TUZLA CANTON POLICE ESTABLISHED WITHOUT CROATS

( Editorial: --> 0217 ) TUZLA, Feb 7 (Hina) - Despite protests from the Croat side, the canton police was established in Tuzla on Saturday. Croat police officers did not attend the ceremony, nor was the Ravne-Brcko municipality police presented. Deputy Interior Minister of the Tuzla-Podrinje Canton, Anto Pranjic, was not included in the protocol, neither did the Deputy Interior Minister of the Bosnian Federation, Jozo Leutar, attend. Pranjic said the Croat side had refused to participate in the ceremony because the provisions of the Declaration signed by the Canton Interior Minister Mirza Jusufovic, his deputy Anto Pranjic and Deputy Commissioner of the International Police Task Force, Marc Krocker, on 14 January had not been met. "The Moslem Interior Ministry has practically been adopted today," Pranjic said, adding that out of three conditions from the Declaration which should have been fulfilled four days before the inauguration, only one had been met - the canton law on interior affairs had been amended. "The question of police in Ravne-Brcko remains open, as well as the national balance in the police structure which should be resolved by a new regulation book in the organisation of the Interior Ministry," Pranjic said. He added that he had received a letter on Saturday from representatives of the international police guaranteeing that the establishment of the police in the Ravne-Brcko municipality would be resolved by 4 March, and the ethnic structure of the police officers would be resolved 30 days after the inauguration. The Croat side had not consented to that and had requested today's inauguration to be postponed, because, Pranjic said, "if they did not fulfil their pledge once, we cannot expect them to do so the next time". (hina) lm 072009 MET feb 98