Ambassador Vrbošić has met with Mr. Adnan Terzić, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina...

Croatian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Josip Vrbošić, has met today in Sarajevo with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Adnan Terzić, regarding the activities of the Intelligence Department of the Serbian army. The meeting took place immediately after Terzić's return from Brussels, where he participated in the meeting of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) that ended Friday 28 March 2003.

Terzić told Vrbošić that the Dayton Agreement is being “flagrantly violated.” He added that a particularly aggravating fact is that the Serbian army intelligence was also working against Croatia, emphasising that those who had taken part in this were not the bodies of the Bosnian Government, but the enemies of Dayton and opponents of the stable Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to the B-H press, High Representative Paddy Ashdown confirmed the allegations about the intelligence attacks of the Serbian army on the B-H Federation, the Republic of Croatia and the International Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He added that the SFOR's findings showed that the peace agreement had been systematically and profoundly violated for a long time.

The Peace Implementation Council stated its position at the Brussels meeting yesterday, about which Ashdown will present a report in Sarajevo no later than 2 April 2003, and authorised Ashdown to make concrete moves to resolve the situation that arose after SFOR's findings about illegal activities of the Serbian army.

It is obvious that these illegal activities are the result of the reluctance to accept the existing situation and the fact that the war objectives have not been reached, and of the unwillingness to accept the post-Daytonian reforms, a stable Bosnia and Herzegovina, friendly relations with its neighbours and the International Community in general. Croatia is particularly interested in a stable Bosnia and Herzegovina whose efficient institutions and the rule of law will facilitate the development of democracy and establishment of even friendlier relations between the two countries.

Ashdown's immediate response is necessary, but all relevant political structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina have to voice their opposition. This situation must be resolved as quickly as possible so that it would not affect the stability of the relations within Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the relations with its neighbours.

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