U.S., British Ambassadors Accused Of Interfering In Bosnian Politics
SARAJEVO, Feb 7 (News Agencies) - Bosnian Croats on Wednesday accused the U.S. and British ambassadors in Bosnia of meddling in the country's politics by openly supporting the multi-ethnic parties striving to cast nationalists out of power.
Drazenko Primorac, an aide to the Croat member of the presidency Ante Jelavic, said that the activities of the U.S. and British ambassadors, Thomas Miller and Graham Hand, had "endangered the constitutional position of the country's institutions" and said, "The presidency has to react."
Withdrawal of the ambassador's credentials "would not be in Bosnia's interests" he said, but stressed that the Bosnian presidency should issue a warning to the governments concerned to stop interfering in Bosnia's internal affairs.
"They went beyond their mandate by expressing open support for the Social Democrats and by putting pressure on other parties," he said.
The multi-ethnic Social Democratic Party (SDP) leads the 10-party Alliance for Change in a bid to gain a parliamentary majority and cast Muslim, Croat and Serb nationalists out of power for the first time in the past decade.
The parliament is to vote later Wednesday on the nationalist prime minister designate, Martin Raguz, nominated by the presidency.
The Serb chairman of the presidency, Zivko Radisic, announced Tuesday that the presidency would raise the issue of withdrawing credentials from diplomats who had exceeded their mandate, notably the U.S. ambassador. He later backed away from the position.
Halid Genjac, the Muslim member of the presidency, said Tuesday he did not support such a move.
The United States promptly issued a strong denunciation of the threat, expressing support for its ambassador and labeling the move as "political maneuvering."
