Bosnia's international peace overseer sacked a local police chief today for supporting a Croat separatist drive and failing to quell riots in which two dozen peacekeepers were injured.
Mr Wolfgang Petritsch said he also suspended three other officials from a cantonal interior ministry for a month pending checks on whether they signed a declaration supporting a six-week-old Croat bid for self-rule under duress.
He said Mostar Cantonal Interior Minister Dragan Mandic and the three officials violated Bosnia's 1995 Dayton peace treaty by supporting Croat separatists who threaten to split Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation.
Mr Mandic also failed to exercise his authority and influence to stop the serious disturbances in Mostar on April 6th, a statement from Mr Petritsch's office said.
Mr Mandic's removal took immediate effect and he was barred from holding public office, the statement said.
The worst violence in Bosnia in years erupted in the regional capital Mostar, bastion of Croat nationalism, after local and international officials supported by NATO-led troops tried to take over a bank believed to be financing self-rule.
One local official was badly injured and dozens of cars belonging to international officials or peacekeepers set on fire as local police, who sympathise with self-rule, stood by.
The interior ministry of the Muslim-Croat federation, which with the Serb republic has comprised Bosnia since the 1992-95 war, has pressed charges against Mr Mandic and another Croat police official. The UN mission overseeing police restructuring in the country also suspended 17 officers for a month.