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Dear citizens of the Catholic and Orthodox faith, I wish you a Happy Easter.
I am saddened that this holiday, which is so important to Christians, is being celebrated at a time when some people from the Croat community in Bosnia and Herzegovina have turned their back to the peace process in this country. My wish is that this situation change quickly, and that the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina commit themselves to building their home country using the constitutional institutions and democratic means that it offers. I have long thought about what has led to the situation in which we find ourselves today. It is true, some moves of the international community might not have been immediately understood. But taking everything into account, in the end I always come to the conclusion that this is an irrational and baseless dispute put forward by a handful of people who are in danger of losing the privileges they have enjoyed for so long, and are arguing with the entire international community, which is trying so hard to make Bosnia and Herzegovina work - work in a way so that all its constituent peoples and citizens can say "yes" to it. This "dispute" started with the change to the Provisional Election Commission's (PEC) rule governing the selection of deputies to the Federation House of Peoples last October. As this was the beginning, I would like to stress three things in this context: Nobody questioned the 30 Croat seats in the Federation House of Peoples and the voting mechanisms, which means that the Croats' representation and decisive voice was guaranteed. Had the HDZ, which opposed the change most loudly, taken up their seats, they would have had more than half of the Croat seats. And thirdly, the November elections were the last ones to be run by the OSCE. The next elections, scheduled for 2002, will be organised by the domestic authorities, under an election law that still needs to be passed. Some of the Federation institutions will be different then because the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has ruled that all three constituent peoples of BiH are constituent in both Entities. That means that Serbs are gaining constituent status in the Federation and that its internal, institutional structure must change accordingly, and Croats and Bosniaks are gaining constituent status in Republika Srpska, which also requires many changes. This is a groundbreaking ruling, a unique opportunity to improve the internal organisations of the Entities. I cannot remember how many times my staff and I have explained this to HDZ officials, how many times we have urged them to join the historic process of changing the internal structures of the Federation and the RS and afterwards determining the election rules under which representatives will be elected to the new bodies. I would have thought that they would be the ones most interested in it since the HDZ has always complained about the structure of the Federation and the lack of Croat representation in the RS. But they have refused. Instead they organised "a referendum" on election day, November 11. We told the HDZ not to do it on that particular day because it would represent political activity and as such break the election silence. We asked them to hold it on another day, warning that a referendum on election day would entail sanctions by the OSCE's Election Appeals Sub-Commission. Again, they refused. I am convinced they deliberately wanted to be punished so they could then turn it against the international community, claiming that we "once again" "suppressed" "the free expression of the will" of the Croat people - which was, of course, only a propaganda manoeuvre. One thing gave way to another. Instead of negotiating with the "Alliance" - which does include Croat parties and has, in a democratic, transparent and legitimate way, succeeded in securing majorities in the BiH and Federation parliaments -, and thus trying to ensure HDZ representation on the State and Federation governments, the HDZ called the Alliance "sick" and "criminal" and turned away. Finally, in early March some HDZ leaders declared "Croat self-rule." This so-called Croat "self-rule" is a dangerous dead-end street. It is no longer 1991 or 1992 when Yugoslavia was collapsing and "Autonomous Krajinas", "Pokrajinas" and self-declared ethnic statelets were popping up all over the place. This is 2001 - almost six years since the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina ended, when the rule of law has started to take root in this country. Croat "self-rule" would be a ghetto – it has been rejected by the entire international community, from its representatives in BiH, to Croatia, to the European Union and every other powerful country in the world. Those who would live under its rule would inevitably become increasingly isolated and impoverished. Croat "self-rule" leaves out the Bosnian Croats who live in Central Bosnia and Posavina and the ones who wish to return to homes in the RS. Even if it were allowed to happen, Croat "self-rule" would not improve the lives of ordinary Croats. On the contrary, it would allow some of their most vocal supporters to continue to enrich themselves, to pursue undisturbed their criminal activities, and ignore the requirement to respect the rights of ordinary citizens. It would not provide more jobs, higher salaries or pensions, better schools, more efficient courts or police. Already, Croat "self-rule" is based on intimidation of those Croats who are critical of it. Is it "freedom" and "the free expression of will" that the cars of those who oppose it are blown up in the middle of the night? That soldiers are prevented from returning to their barracks in Vitez and Busovaca by an angry mob throwing stones and eggs and calling them "traitors"? That a divisional commander, until recently loyally fulfilling his constitutional duties, suddenly disappears and then re-appears on television, sweating and with his eyes cast down, accusing SFOR of having "forced and threatened" him to be loyal to the legal institutions? Is it protection of citizens ' interests that public funds suddenly started disappearing from Hercegovacka Banka? It seems that the thieves have as little scruple about taking other people's money as the leaders in BiH during the war, who emptied every single bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the excuse of buying weapons to defend their people. Funnily enough, they all came out of the war with big cars and beautiful villas, while the depositors have been given vouchers and vague promises to be reimbursed one day. Some of thugs who violently prevented the international community from taking control of Hercegovacka Banka on April 6 in order to save it, are the same people that profited from the war and its aftermath. Croat "self-rule" is a nationally exclusionist concept of the past. During the entire conflict in former Yugoslavia and afterwards, Pope John Paul II as well as all other Catholic dignitaries have always supported keeping Bosnia and Herzegovina whole. The country has succeeded in emerging from the war as one state. We will not allow it to be torn apart now. As I am here to protect the laws and the Dayton Peace Agreement, I was forced to remove those who declared Croat "self-rule" in violation of the solemn oaths they had taken to protect the constitutional order of this country: Ante Jelavic, former Presidency member, and three other former HDZ officials. Croat "self-rule" is something that the international community will never accept. Our offer is on the table and has been on the table for months. We, the international community, wish to establish a dialogue with those Croat leaders who are genuinely interested in finding a way out of the current situation. We cannot and will not negotiate with representatives of Croat "self-rule" or its "Hrvatski Narodni Sabor", but are ready to talk to every honest Croat, be he or she a member of HDZ, some other party or another representative, who respects the law. The task ahead and way out is the designing of a Federation and RS in which the rights of every people and every citizen are protected, in accordance with the ruling of the Constitutional Court. There are two vacant Croat seats in the Constitutional Commission of the Federation, which is drafting proposals for the necessary changes. I hope they will be taken up by Croats who are committed to working in the interest of the Croat people. I, as the High Representative, guarantee that I will consider the suggestions of the Croat members and use my authority to ensure that they are taken into account by all the other involved parties. Once again: Happy Easter. Let us all use these days to find a way out of the current situation and keep to the path of peace.
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