From: waseems@sco.COM (Waseem Siddiqi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Croatians & Muslim relationship
Date: 25 Sep 92 15:10:44 GMT
Organization: SCO Canada, Inc.

Excerpted from UPI NewsFeature

        MOSTAR, Bosnia-Hercegovina (UPI) -- Before the Yugoslav war broke out
in April, tourists flocked to this south-central Hercegovina town to
take in its distinctly Muslim flavor.
        Before the war, Mostar was 34 percent Muslim, 33 percent Croat and 10
percent Serb.
        Now Croatian flags hang on nearly every government building, Croatian
currency is circulated and taxes are paid to the local Croatian
authorities.
        Most of the distinctive buildings that once attracted tourists have
been leveled or riddled with bullet holes. All but one of the city's 11
mosques have been destroyed.
        The local Croatian leadership plans to rebuild Mostar and make it the
capital of their self-declared republic of Herceg-Bosna, which comprises
roughly one-third of Bosnia-Hercegovina. The plans are much to the
dismay of the internationally recognized Bosnia-Hercegovina government
in Sarajevo as well as area Muslims.
        The Bosnia-Hercegovina government favors a republic with four
ethnically mixed regions, all under the authority of a centralized
Parliament in Sarajevo.
        But the leadership of the self-declared state of Herceg-Bosna headed
by Mate Boban wants separate Croatian, Muslim and Serbian cantons. Boban
is president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Hercegovina and
regional commander of the Croatian army (HVO).
        Although the Bosnians and Croatians officially are allied against a
common enemy -- the Serbs -- their differing political aims threaten to
add another destabilizing element to the war-torn republic.
        Rising tensions in the last month already have led to clashes between
the Bosnian army and Croatian forces in other central Bosnia-Hercegovina
towns such as Jajce and Travnik, which Boban's government claims for the
Croatian state of Herceg-Bosna.
        Recently in Stup, a suburb of Sarajevo -- the Bosnian army attacked
Croatian forces in an apparent bid to break the siege of the capital.
        ``A number of HVO soldiers were killed, but no official number of
casualties has been released, said Ivo Primovac, a Croatian army
commander in Grude. ''This incident was only between Muslims and Croats
and it was really stupid because the Muslims should realize how much
they need the Croats.``
        The Bosnian government is resentfully dependent on the Croats. Its
army is sorely lacking in weapons. Although Bosnia admits to receiving
arms from Islamic countries, deliveries have to come through Croatian
territory.
        Primovac, and other HVO officials said the recent seizure in the
Croatian capital of Zagreb of weapons on an incoming flight from Iran
was a government warning to Muslim forces to respect the HVO command.
        Officially, the Croatian government has said it seized the weapons to
enforce the international arms embargo against all three warring
factions.
        The Bosnian army has very little influence in Mostar or elsewhere in
Herceg-Bosna, where the HVO outnumbers it more than two to one.
        The HVO controls 30 percent of Bosnia-Hercegovina, the Bosnian-Serbs
60 percent and the Bosnian army about 10 percent.
        HVO officials say they had to impose their authority over the region
because the Bosnian army and the Sarajevo government is too weak to
enforce their laws.
        Nevertheless, Muslim leaders say unless the HVO submits to the
command of the Sarajevo government they will demand it.
        More than 90 percent of the population within 10 municipalities in
the southwest region of Bosnia-Hercegovina are Croatian.
        Croatian forces claim another 20 municipalities with substantial
Muslim and Croatian populations in a strip of land stretching northeast
through the middle of the republic fall into this Croatian area as well.
        While the Croatian army holds the southwest Croatian territory,
allied Bosnian and Croatian forces still are fighting the Serbs for the
other 20 municipalities.
        Serb forces withdrew from Mostar about a month ago, although they
continue to lob artillery shells daily into the city from a nearby
stronghold.
-- 
Waseem A. Siddiqi                                 Tel:    (416) 922 1937 
SCO Canada                                        email: waseems@sco.com 
Toronto, Canada                                        uunet!sco!waseems