Bosnian Croat nationalist parties unanimously voted today for the autonomy of Croats within Bosnia, in the form of an interregional council.
The vote, taken at a convention of Bosnian Croat nationalist parties, set up the council as "temporary Croatian autonomy in Bosnia-Hercegovina ... until the full constitutional and real equality of Croat people in Bosnia-Hercegovina can be ensured," a draft document said.
The council is to be made up of representatives from areas with a Croat majority, according to the document, and would have a president, government and parliament, with the southern town of Mostar as its administrative center.
The authority of Bosnia's central institutions and of the Muslim-Croat Federation would not be recognized in those areas, the document indicated.
The council would also refuse to recognize any sanctions decreed by the international community, the document indicated.
This was an apparent reference to remarks made yesterday by the international community's top negotiator in Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, who said he would not allow any attempt to undermine the Dayton peace accords.
Bosnia - which has a three-member rotating presidency of one Croat, one Muslim and one Serb - is divided into two semi-independent entities with weak central institutions: the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska.
The Muslim-Croat Federation has frequently been accused by the main nationalist Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) of not meeting the aspirations of Croats in Bosnia, the smallest of the country's three ethnic communities.
Saturday's decision was taken by the Croatian National Congress, a body formed last October by the HDZ and six other parties which together won 93 per cent of Bosnian Croat votes in November 11 elections.
AFP