The High Representative Carlos Westendorp expresses his profound disappointment with the decision by HDZ delegates at the inaugural session of the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to choose five HDZ members to be the Croat delegates in the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Both the Chair and Deputy Chair of the House of Peoples have been informed that this decision is in direct contravention of the ruling set out in a joint letter from the High Representative and the acting Head of the OSCE Mission dated 6 November.
The High Representative regrets that the HDZ has taken this decision despite previous comprehensive consultations on this issue. The said appointment of HDZ representatives to the BH House of People thus had to be declared null and void.
Concurrently, the Collegium of the House of Peoples has been informed of this decision and instructed not to convene the constitutive session of the House of Peoples until the Croat delegates are selected in accordance with this ruling.
The High Representative expects the Federation House of Peoples to now hold a session no later than 24 November 1998 at which the Croat delegates are to select four HDZ delegates and one NHI delegate as the five Croat delegates to the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only such an apportioning will properly reflect the distribution of seats among the parties that have Croat delegates in the Federation House of Peoples, and nothing less would be acceptable to the International Community.
Should the party fail to observe this deadline, the HR will take the necessary steps to ensure the correct establishment of the House of Peoples, based on Section XI of the Bonn declaration.