PRESS BRIEFING BY PRESIDENCY OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Thanks to the United Nations Mission now coming to a successful end in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country was ready to take on its responsibilities as a stable force in the region, the Presiding Member of its Presidency told reporters at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Responding to a question about the three-member Presidency, Presiding Member Mirko Sarovic said the structure was appropriate for the complex country and its ethnic mix, providing for equal representation of Bosnians, Croats and Serbs.  He was accompanied by Dragan Covic and Sulejman Tihic, the two other members of the Presidency.

Mr. Sarovic conceded that the arrangement could seem complicated from an outside perspective, and that it could be seen as hampering progress.  "But for us, it's equality," he said.  Because of the country's past, equality between ethnic groups was a priority.  Since the election in October, the results were being implemented and institutions were being made more effective.  In the future, a single president would have a four-year term.  That arrangement was a good beginning, he added.

[The United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) will complete its mandate on 31 December and the European Union Police Mission (EUPM) will take over from the International Police Task Force (IPTF) on 1 January 2003.]

Asked how long the Republika Srpska would last and how long it would be separated from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Covic replied that the federation and the Republika Srpska were mutually interdependent, stressing that one could not exist without the other.  The separation was a compromise reached as a result of the war, he said.

Mr. Tihic added that the Republika Srpska would stay in place as long as the Dayton Peace Agreements were in effect, or until the people themselves reached a different decision.  One could not simply cancel the Republika Srpska or the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he pointed out.      

In opening remarks, Mr. Sarovic noted that UNMIBH was one of the most successful Missions the United Nations had ever carried out.  After seven years, the country was confident that it could continue to build its society.

However, there were many challenges ahead, he cautioned.  Cooperation and integration with Europe were the only options, and while there were some doubters, it was obvious that the present leadership was successful and capable of building a sustainable society.  It could take over responsibility for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  The past had given the world much bad news about the country, but the future would be full of good news, he added.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Covic stressed that the Presidency's priorities were to create a strong government and judiciary, as well as to carry out economic reform.  The country would be a force for stability in the region, as its standards were modernized to the level of Europe and the wider world.

Mr. Tihic, elaborating on Bosnia and Herzegovina's potential as an important factor for regional stability, said that the October elections had been the turning point for the country's future.  However, it could neither forget the past, nor live in it.  Bosnia and Herzegovina had learned that it must avoid repeating the past and move beyond it.  Towards that end, it was a high priority to punish those guilty of war offences.  A sustainable peace would be built by exposing what had happened in the past.  Srebrenica must not be forgotten and must never recur anywhere in the world, he emphasized.

Asked about plans for unifying Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Covic stressed the need to recognize the country's multiethnicity, in order to make it successful, prosperous and stable.  There were many multiethnic States in Europe and the world and, like them, Bosnia and Herzegovina would take over from the point to which UNMIBH had brought it with regard to stability.  While the country would continue cooperating with the international community in reaching its goals, it wanted to make its own laws.

Mr. Tihic emphasized again the importance of recognizing the equality of all three ethnic groups, no matter their size or population.  Serbs, Croats and Bosnians had lived together on the same territory for many years and their problems had originated from the outside.  Without that outside influence, all three groups got along well, he added.  

Asked about the Croat view of the Presidency arrangement, Mr. Covic reaffirmed the complexity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying that that all three ethnic groups had learned that no single nationality could force its own view on another and that none was trying to do that.  Returning to the question of the Republika Srpska, he said:  "Until the Government finds a better structure.”

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