"Yesterday I informed the Secretary General of the UN that we are ready for the next phase, which is demilitarisation within the framework of the UNTAES mandate. The Secretary General shall inform the Security Council that from 12 noon on 21 May, Central Europe Time that part of the process has commenced. We have printed a special issue of the Transitional Administrations bulletin in which General Joseph Shoups, the Commander of the UNTAES forces, explains the conditions of demilitarisation" said General Klein.
General Shoups stated the conditions : according to the already known procedure of taking and destroying weapons, taking control of military facilities and the demobilisation of all military and police formations. He has warned the local civilian population that demilitarisation means that no one shall be able to carry or transport weapons without the permission of UNTAES, while even light arms which civilians are allowed to keep at home shall need to be reported to their local police station. Local police and UNTAES forces shall enforce the prohibition and those found breaching it shall be arrested and bought before the local court. The Head of the Croatian government's Office for the Implementation of Croatian Authority in Eastern Croatia, Mr Ivica Vrkic applauded this decision. At the same time he advised that the Croatian side has opened telephone lines to Beli Manastir. He also advised of the case of Drazen Mandic, a young man from the occupied part of Baranja, who 30 days ago whilst hunting got lost and found himself near Osijek. He was arrested and processed through the court.
"Following the court procedure we are returning him to his parents, Drazen Mandic shall be the first person who shall be treated in accordance with the new amnesty law. We are doing this because we believe that the war is over and we want to create favourable conditions for peaceful co- existence", said Mr Vrkic. In response to a question from Serbian journalists about other Serbs in police custody, he stated that the amnesty law shall be fully implemented very quickly and appropriately.
What the real reasons were for those actions will soon be known, but there is an impression being made that European pre-election games have begun in Mostar and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It's not a secret that a division exists between high-ranking EU officials which has resulted in the inclination to one of the sides. The question is how the new administrator, who has thus far shown himself to be objective and principled, will complete the complicated Mostar project. Mr. Birchler's statement alleges to the uncertainty of Mr. Casado's full control over his people.
The elections in Mostar are perhaps the biggest test to the implementation of civilian parts of the Dayton Agreement. Their not sticking to it would jeopardize the otherwise fragile peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the resolutions from Dayton wouldn't be liable to anyone. The Croats in Mostar ask themselves if Mr. Birchler knows this since he would so calmly and independently, or to someone else's command, defer the elections. And what a coincidence that it concurs with the Muslim stand, similar to the decisions of R.B. Owen, who just last week denied the reprentatives clubs in Vares the right to decision-making and obliterated the mandate of three Croatian representatives, which then enabled foreigners, or better said Muslims, the nomination as bearer of executive power.
On the basis of the electoral results in Bugojno, Mr. Owen influenced the Croatian side to nominate the head of the community. He abolished the mandate of a Croatian representative and in his place appointed a Muslim?! With that, Croatians lost the majority of one representative which they acquired at the elections.
To the arbitrary Europeans, we extend another Kinkel attack on Croatians in Mostar (again he is bothered by the Croatian flag), which alleges to the conclusion that a pre-election European campaign began in which Croatians could lose their three key cities. After Mr. Birchler's and Mr. Owen's resolutions, and the additional Kinkel threat, can the Croatians believe the Europeans?