BOSNEWS digest 444 -- 25/10/95

From: Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

CONTENTS

[01] LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ON THE DIPLOMATIC FRONT AND ON THE GROUND IN THE BALKANS

UNPROFOR forces opened the main western road out of Sarajevo for aid convoys today after clearing mines laid by Serbian forces. However, Serbian forces warned that they would not allow non-Serb civilian traffic to use the road unless they were given free access to the city. Bosnian Serb nationalist leaders decided yesterday to demand a sector of Sarajevo for themselves and the right to secede from Bosnia with the territory they have so brutally conquered and ethnically cleansed.

The Bosnian government today criticized a Croatian electoral provision calling on Bosnian Croats to participate in Croatia's parliamentary elections set for October 29, protesting that it undermined its sovereignty. The government wrote to Zagreb yesterday that it would only allow citizens of Croatia living in Bosnia to vote. Opposition parties in Croatia itself also criticized the provision for unfairly helping the party of President Franjo Tudjman and undermining the Federation in Bosnia.

Speaking today before the United Nations in New York, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic said that his government would never accept a division of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Izetbegovic, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic will attend peace talks beginning October 31 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio.

[02] THE CEASE-FIRE IS OBSERVED, UN SAYS

Sarajevo, Oct 24, 1995 (Press TWRA) - UNPROFOR has announced that cease fire holds in all parts of B-H. They say that "blue route" leading from the B-H capital via Kiseljak to central Bosnia has not been trafficable for civilians yet. UN expects it will be by the end of this week when the area along the separation line in western Sarajevo suburb of Stup must be cleared of mines. Humanitarian convoys continue unimpeded moving to Gorazde and at the moment it is not known when the road will be open for civil traffic, UN officials in Sarajevo say. /end/A.S.

[03] COMMON STATEMENT OF DEMIREL, IZETBEGOVIC AND TUDJMAN

New York, Oct 24, 1995 (Press TWRA) - Presidents of Turkey, B-H and Croatia, Suleyman Demirel, Alija Izetbegovic and Franjo Tudjman, respectively, held a three-partite meeting during their stay in New York at the 5Oth anniversary of the UN Charter adoption. After the summit, the three presidents issued a common declaration explaining once again the views of the three governments of the crisis in B-H and Croatia. The declaration stresses the importance of maintaining integral and pluralistic B-H as a state of three constitutive peoples and all citizens. They expressed concern over continuing Serb occupation of eastern part of Croatia with the hope that a peaceful solution will be reached. Croat-Bosniak Federation is referred to as a ground for the overall solution of the post-war relations in B-H being a support to the Contact group plan as well as basic principles recently agreed in Geneva. Heads of diplomacy of B-H and Croatia, Sacirbey and Granic and deputy head of Turkish diplomacy Oyman reached the agreement in New York on combined police forces to be sent to Velika Kladusa to relieve the return of the refugees being loyal to the collaborationist Fikret Abdic. One hundred of Bosnian and fifty of Turkish and Croat policemen will be deployed around the border line near Velika Kladusa. /end/ A.S.

[04] VAN DEN BROEK ON THREE SAGES OF EUROPEAN AID

Brussels, Oct 24, 1995 (Press TWRA) - Dutch prime minister Wim Kook endorsed potential election of his predecessor Ruud Lubers for the NATO secretary general. The Netherlands does not support candidacy of its ex-head of diplomacy Hans van den Broek for the post as it wants him to continue his current mission in European Commission. Van den Broek is in charge of the relations with the states of middle and eastern Europe which want to join European Union as well as relation with south eastern Europe. If van den Broek leaves the current post, the Netherlands is afraid it will lose a significant position it holds now. Speaking before the relevant commission of the European Parliament, van den Broek said that European assistance to the area of ex-Yugoslavia should have three stages - humanitarian aid for refugees, reconstruction of B-H and then of the other war affected areas. /end/ A.S.

[05] SARAJEVO ON CROATIAN ELECTIONS AND PEACE SETTLEMENT

Frankfurt, Sarajevo, Oct 24, 1995 (Press TWRA) - Matthias Rueb in "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" writes about the elections in Craotia and intent of Zagreb to include the B-H Croats in the elections and the attitude of Sarajevo towards such intent and the conditions which the leading Bosniak party SDA puts to the peace plan proposed to B-H by the international community.

"It is held that HDZ, according to the organization of the elections and the degree of control of the elections, will have all 12 places on the list as planned for diaspora. Among the HDZ candidates are the officials of the self-styled, internationally non-recognized Croatian Republic Herzeg Bosnia. President of the Constitutional Court of B-H, Dautbasic says that the citizens of B-H, in accord with the Constitution of their country, cannot vote for other states' parliaments. Dautbasic warns it opposes the international law. He also warns that the Croat members of BH Parliament migth become members of the Parliament in Zagreb. B-H Ambassador to Croatia, Trnka comments that Croatian electoral law require from B-H Croats who are the B-H citizens a higher degree of loyalty towards Croatia than towards B-H", writes Reub in FAZ, reporting like other German media the attitude of B-H government which states that Croats are constitutional people, not minority to B-H who, by electoral law of Croatia, lose in BH the sovereign status. Also, B-H government remarks that the B-H citizens with both Croatian and Bosnian citizenship come under laws of B-H and have not the status of foreigners and the right to vote abroad.

M. Reub writes about the platform for the peace process which has been released by the leading Bosnian party- Party of Democratic Action (SDA). "Platform of the party headed by the president of the B-H presidency Alija Izetbegovic repeated the demand for maintenance of the B-H territorial integrity and as a necessary guarantee of its integrity it states: one government, one presidency, common parliament, one constitutional court and one central bank. Responsibility of the central government in Sarajevo would remain foreign policy, defence, protection of minorities, currency, customs duty, budget, finances, foreign trade, right for property and border supervision. Constitutional court would have authority to prevent veto of any entity on major decisions. When the agreement is signed it would be implemented by NATO not the UN. Participation of Russian soldiers is acceptable in the same ratio as the units from Muslim states. Peace implementing forces would not be deployed along the separation lines only but throughout B-H. Croatian army must leave B-H at least 3O days after reaching the agreement. After that, only B-H army will be authorized to protect B-H from external enemy what will be followed by lifting the arms embargo", writes Rueb concluding: "To negotiating and warring parties it will be hard to take a stand to Izetbegovic's platform the demands of which are equal and in balance towards Croatia, Serbia, UN, NATO, Russia and Islamic world. Those are the demands of a government that attained its self-consciousness. /end/ A.S.