|
|
|
|
TITLE: Bosnian Croat President Fired |
AUTHOR: Aida Cerkez-Robinson |
PUB: Washington Post |
DATE: March 7, 2001 |
|
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Bosnia's top international administrator Wednesday fired the Bosnian Croat president and other senior officials after their political party announced plans last week to bolt the alliance with the country's Muslims. Ante Jelavic - the Croat member of the country's three-person presidency - was also barred from holding any other elected post, according to a statement from the office of Wolfgang Petritsch, who oversees compliance with the 1995 peace agreement that ended the Bosnian war. Jelavic, leader of the hard-line Bosnian Croat Democratic Union, and other Bosnian Croat nationalists, pledged Saturday to create their own state in Bosnia - a violation of the country's constitution and the Dayton peace accord, the statement added. The move sets the stage for a showdown with the Bosnian Croat community, the smallest of the country's three ethnic communities, which includes Serbs and Muslims. The actions by Petritsch, an Austrian diplomat, had been expected. Earlier Wednesday, Jelavic told reporters he "would be honored" if Petritsch fired him. The Bosnian Croats based their decision on a change in election laws last year, which they say makes it impossible to retain positions which they held since the 1995 peace agreement. The changes involved shifting seats held by Bosnian Croats in local governments from areas where Jelavic's party was strong to other districts where the party has less influence. The Bosnian Croats gave the international administrator 15 days to reverse the law. Robert Barry, who runs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe office in Sarajevo, said the move by Jelavic's party threatens to damage the structure of the Bosnian state and could unravel the central concept of the Dayton peace accord. "This is not really about Croat rights," he said in Vienna, claiming party leaders "are interested in defending their own economic position." Jelavic's party allied with the Muslims under U.S. pressure during the Bosnian war, which broke out in 1992 when the country declared independence from Yugoslavia. The 1995 Dayton peace agreement allowed for the creation of a Bosnian Serb ministate and a Muslim-Croat federation, which Jelavic's party wants to dissolve. The Bosnian Croat leadership has long been angry about the Bosnian Serb status, feeling its influence is diluted because the Muslim community is much larger. Petritsch also fired Ivo Andric-Luzanski, former president of the Muslim-Croat federation and a current member of parliament. He also dismissed Marko Tokic and Zdravko Batinic as vice presidents of the Jelavic party. "Law and order are slowly taking root in Bosnia which has made it increasingly difficult to operate for people like him," Petritsch said of Jelavic. "They do not want normality, the rule of law, economic prosperity. I will not allow only a few (party) officials and associates to get richer and richer while ordinary people are left behind." Petritsch's statement accused Jelavic of failing to uphold constitutional order and of depriving constituents of their representation in national institutions. He said the moves were not directed at the Bosnian Croat community. "I want the Croat people to participate in the improvement of conditions in Bosnia and Herzegovina - economic, social and cultural conditions," he added. "There is no Bosnia-Herzegovina without the Croat people of Bosnia-Herzegovina." © Copyright 2001 The Associated Press END |