Igman initiative for changing Dayton agreement

[Ace Rimmer]

IGMAN INITIATIVE FOR CHANGING DAYTON AGREEMENT

SARAJEVO, Nov 7 (Hina) - The Dayton agreement has not withstood the demands of the realities of life, politics and history over the past 10 years and has not provided sufficient conditions for a lasting and just peace, according to an Igman Initiative joint statement signed in Sarajevo on Monday.
The initiative convened on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the peace accord which ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The joint statement was signed by Sejfudin Tokic, Zoran Pusic and Aleksandar Popov, chairmen of the three umbrella nongovernmental organisations comprising the Igman Initiative -- Bosnia's Democratic Alternative Forum, Zagreb's Civic Committee on Human Rights, and Novi Sad's Centre for Regionalism.

The joint statement read it was unnecessary to engage in further discussions on whether it was necessary to change the Dayton agreement.

The reality of life has outgrown the agreement, so one should seek new forms for a more functional and contemporary relationship to the needs of Bosnia's citizens, read the document.

It recommended adjusting Bosnia's constitutional framework to the demands of lasting and just peace. It also demanded mobilising all forces in the countries of the regions signatories to the Dayton agreement to invest additional effort so that in looking for appropriate solutions to change the Bosnian constitution, attention should be put on European integration.

The statement said that each signatory to the Dayton agreement should individually bear full responsibility for their own activities within their internationally recognised borders, without interfering in other states' internal affairs.

The document also said that international institutions should remain in Bosnia with a clear exit strategy projection.

The joint statement was offered for signing to Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, Serbia and Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic, and Bosnian Presidency member Sulejman Tihic, who attended the Igman Initiative conference. They refused due to disagreements among the Bosnian Presidency's three members regarding the statement's contents, according to an official explanation.

(Hina) (http://www.hina.hr/nws-bin/genews.cgi?TOP=hot&NID=ehot/politika/HB073133.4yc)

[Ace Rimmer]

MESIC, MAROVIC, TIHIC DON'T SIGN JOINT STATEMENT ON DAYTON ACCORD


SARAJEVO, Nov 7 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, Serbia and Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic, and Bosnian Presidency member Sulejman Tihic did not accept an offer to sign a joint declaration on the Dayton agreement and relations between the three countries at the end of an Igman Initiative conference in Sarajevo on Monday.
The Igman Initiative is an international coordinating body gathering representatives of 140 nongovernmental organisations from Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its 11th conference was called "10 Years after the Signing of the Dayton Agreement - The Next Step of Cooperation".

The three countries' presidents had attended previous conferences of the initiative aimed at dealing with the consequences of the 1990s war and restoring cooperation and confidence in the former Yugoslavia. They would adopt a joint statement regarding the main topic of the meeting.

Mesic told the press that he, Marovic and Tihic did not sign the joint statement because the "members of the Bosnian Presidency could not agree on the content of the statement which we wanted to sign with some changes". He did not specify which changes he was referring to.

Igman Initiative officials said the disagreements in Bosnia's three-member Presidency started when the office of Croat member Ivo Miro Jovic insisted that the statement include more content with national values and criteria, while the office of Muslim member Tihic wanted the declaration not to contain ethnic prefixes and criteria.

The office of Serb member Borislav Paravac did not take part in agreeing the joint statement, but was against proposals to change the Dayton agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia in 1995.

(Hina) (http://www.hina.hr/nws-bin/genews.cgi?TOP=hot&NID=ehot/politika/HB073075.4yc)

[Ace Rimmer]

MESIC SAYS IT IS NECESSARY TO UPGRADE DAYTON DEAL

ZAGREB, Nov 12 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic has said that it is necessary to upgrade the Dayton peace accords which stopped the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995.
Commenting on a meeting of leaders of eight major Bosnian parties, who should convene in Brussels over the weekend to discuss constitutional changes drawn up by international diplomats, the Croatian president said that the Dayton agreement stopped the war in Bosnia and played its role.

The deal however "failed to establish all the state mechanisms in Bosnia-Herzegovina", he told reporters during his regular meeting with citizens on Saturday.

"Many who were destroying Bosnia believed that that (the agreement) was a break and that the international community will become fed up with (Bosnia) and that the policy promoting the division of Bosnia, which was defeated, would again become topical. Bosnia must survive and it cannot be divided," the Croatian head of state said.

According to him, it is now evident that the world cannot connive at attempts to give a part of the Bosnian territory to Serbia, a part to Croatia and that a tiny Muslim state remains living off international aid. That could breed camps with terrorists disgruntled with Bosnia's division and that could become a new Palestine in the next 50-70 year, Mesic said adding that this was something which Europe could not accept.

"It is now necessary to upgrade the Dayton accords so as to shatter illusions about entities becoming states," he said.

Commenting on press reports that the Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ), which is in major ownership of an Italian bank, decided to grant loans to members of the Italian minority in Croatia under more favourable terms and conditions, Mesic said all citizens should enjoy equal rights in banks, too,

(Hina) (http://www.hina.hr/nws-bin/genews.cgi?TOP=hot&NID=ehot/politika/HB124494.4yc)

[Bartholomew Roberts]

They all want change especially the Croatians but off course they themselves don't know what they want and as a consequence and with certainity the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina will once again get the worst cards to play with, winning absolutely nothing and perhaps lossing anything they had acquired.