ACCUSATIONS, REPROACHES AND DISMAY

Reactions of parties to the incident in Mostar

Sarajevo, 11 February, 1997 (AIM)

The latest tragic events in Mostar provoke all kinds of comments: the Bosnian public mostly expresses shock, bitterness, and there are quite a few of those who fear the possibility of spreading of the conflict.

Representatives of political parties mostly accuse and reproach, and state the following for AIM:

"The Muslim Bosniac Organization (MBO) most bitterly condemns the incident in Mostar. Our opinion is that it was planned and organized. But we also believe that apart from the attackers of the group of Bosniacs, a part of the responsibility for it lies with the leadership of the eastern part of Mostar for not having analyzed and assessed the situation well enough. They should have reached an agreement with the Croat party about this visit, but also demanded escort from international organizations. This, of course, does not diminish responsibility of the Croat party which organized and carried out the incident. The MBO believes that the President of Presidency, Alija Izetbegovic, should have demanded from Bill Clinton to organize a meeting with Tudjman in order to reach an agreement under auspices of the USA for the killing, plunder and banishment to stop", says Mujo Kafedzic, Vice-president of the MBO of B&H.

Sejfudin Tokic, Vice-president of the Union of B&H Social Democrats (UBSD), thinks that all culprits, but also perpetrators of this incident, must be punished individually: "Without that, it will be very difficult to re-establish confidence. Obviously, the HDZ B&H bears full political responsibility for the attack. But, I also believe that as the slightest moral act, resignations of the minister of the interior and his deputy should follow, as well as that of the President and the Vice-president of the Federation."

Non-parliamentary Civic Democratic Party (GDS) expresses bitterness, and the President of this party, Ibrahim Spahic, points out that at the moment it is essential not to permit the conflict to escalate, which according to him will be very difficult: "The impression is that there is no consent about the Federation and that is why an open political dialogue should be invited in B&H. And if conditions are not created for this form of a dialogue, consequences will be far-reaching: B&H will increasingly lose points in the world and the interest of the world for our state will wane."

Vice-president of the also non-parliamentary Liberal Party (LS), Hasib Salkic, says: "We receive the news about events in Mostar with uneasiness and dismay. We consider the fact that the conflict occurred on the second day of Bairam, the day of killed jihad warriors, which has certainly opened old wounds and reminescence among the Bosniacs, especially dangerous. Consequences will be very serious. We are afraid that the belligerent atmosphere in Mostar will be transferred to some other cities in the Federation.

"In the Croat Peasants' Parties, we have experienced this brutal criminal act with astonishment and we most sharply condemn it. Knowledge that the crime has happened during a big holiday, Bairam, is very difficult, and it speaks clearly of aims, plans and perpetrators of this crime", Stanko Sliskovic, President of the Croat Peasants' Party is resolute. "Tragic outcome of the crime, its victims, oblige us to demand identification and trial to perpetrators, but more than that we have an obligation to send message to the citizens of Mostar that the HSS is with them, for the sake of preservation of human dignity and peace, and that we will with joint forces overcome all consequences of this tragedy, clearly saying that B&H has more lives than the evil-doers can take".

President of the non-parliamentary Liberal Bosniac Organization (LBO), Muhamed Filipovic, thinks that developments in Mostar are the result of political movements in the past year: "It is a fact that there are no obstacles in the Federation, and that organization of meetings in which allegedly important issues are resolved is nothing but throwing dust into people's eyes. That is why I am convinced that neither the SDA nor the HDZ can resolve the issue of Mostar and in this sense new elections should be considered, because the SDA and the HDZ are haggling about the question of sovereignty and implementation of the will of the people expressed in Mostar elections".

The Social Democratic Party of B&H (SDP) issued a statement in which, among other, it is stated that "These as well as other developments on the territory of the Federation is an expression of the still ruling political conceptions according to which the Federation should be divided into two ethnic statelets. Advocates of these conceptions would like it best if they could proclaim borders between the Bosniac and Croat territory, if it would be possible to do it without a new catastrophic war. The collapse of the system of administration in the Federation is just another expression of these conceptions- blockade of the parliament, failure to convene sessions of the Chamber of Nations, incessant process of ethnic cleansing on the territory of the Federation. Condemning these political conceptions and their public and concealed participants, the Presidency of the SDP B&H once again points out to the danger of reducing the policy of governing a country to the rule of two, or three national parties".

And as it usually happens, in ruling national parties, the SDA and the HDZ, it was impossible to get a statement. In the SDA they say - they will say everything at a press conference in Mostar. As a secretary in the office of Bozo Raic, President of the HDZ B&H, says he is on a business trip, and secretary general Srecko Vucina is in Mostar, but "does not give statements" for the media.

Nermina MUJCINOVIC