LOCAL CROAT OFFICIALS THREATEN BOYCOTT BECAUSE OF TRAVNIK KILLINGS

( Editorial: --> 1109 ) TRAVNIK/NOVA BILA, August 1 (Hina) - Croat officials in the Travnik municipality and in the Central Bosnia Canton on Friday decided to boycott further cooperation with their Bosniak (Muslim) colleagues, unless within a 48-hour deadline appropriate measures are undertaken to find the killers of Croat returnees and policemen in the Bosniak-controlled town. The warning emerged in the wake of the murder of Croat policeman Ante Valjan early on Friday morning, resulting in the Travnik branch of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) holding a meeting in Nova Bila (under Croat control). Also in attendance were Muslim-Croat Federation Vice-President Vladimir Soljic and Deputy Federal Interior Minister Jozo Leutar. The meeting was told of problems with Arab citizens who lived in the area and it was demanded an urgent amendment to the canton's constitution, relating to the arrangement of the cantonal seat Travnik as a town union of municipalities. "The town leadership lead by the Bosniak people are responsible for everything which is occurring in Travnik," Soljic said after the meeting. I am shocked by the news of this latest killing in Travnik and in relation to this I held discussions with leading heads of the international police in Bosnia-Herzegovina (IPTF), international Deputy High Representative Hanns Schumacher said after a visit to Travnik. He said the aim of the terrorists was to destroy joint institutions and the return process. If it is not discovered who is behind this terrorism, the situation in Travnik will become unbearable, Schumacher assessed. In talks with Canton Prefect Adnan Terzic, a Bosniak, and Deputy Prefect Ivan Saric, a Croat, Schumacher urged Croat police officers in Travnik to end their walk out and return to work. An opposite decision would work in the hands of the terrorists, he said. More than 80 Croat police offers have abandoned their duties in a protest against the killing of two of their Croat colleagues in the past month and a half, and because of a lack of confidence for their personal security while doing regular work. Schumacher has demanded Bosniak officials to move the Bosniak secret police AID out of the Travnik police department building. Bosniak officials should not sink their hands into the sand and throw responsibility from one to the other over the removal of AID from the police department building, Schumacher said. (Hina) mbr jn 011342 MET aug 98