Bosnian Croat Leader Quits in Bid to Blunt Criticism

VIENNA —  The leader of Bosnia’s Croats stepped down Tuesday in a move aimed at improving their position in peace negotiations and minimizing criticism of Croatia’s efforts to support ethnic kin in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Stung by battlefield losses and the breakdown of an alliance between Bosnian Croats and Muslims, Mate Boban resigned as president of the self-proclaimed republic of Herzeg-Bosna. The front-runner to replace him, former Bosnian Prime Minister Mile Akmadzic, acted as the representative of the Bosnian Croats at recent peace talks in Geneva.

Boban, an ally of Croatia’s President Franjo Tudjman, told members of the self-styled state’s assembly meeting in the city of Livno that Bosnia’s Croats never intended any ill will toward the Muslims.

“Croats are not entirely free of imprudence in this conflict,” Boban said. “But they never had bad intentions toward the Muslims, nor did anything to cause the destruction of Bosnia-Herzegovina.”

Croats and Muslims once fought side by side in an alliance against the expansionist moves of Bosnia’s Serbs. But the alliance broke down in the spring of last year, when Croatian and Muslim forces clashed in the southern city of Mostar. The city was divided along ethnic lines, and thousands of Muslims were detained by Croatian forces under Boban’s command.

U.N. observers and humanitarian aid workers say current living conditions in the Muslim section of Mostar are even more severe than in Sarajevo, which gets a regular stream of humanitarian aid.

With the Mostar siege growing worse and fighting in central Bosnia escalating, international pressure has been building on Croatia. Criticism grew sharper when a top U.N. official confirmed the presence of 3,000 Croatian army troops in Bosnia.

Though Croatian military officials deny that charge, world leaders have warned Croatia to change its policies toward Bosnia or face international sanctions like those now in place against the rump Yugoslavia.

Tudjman may have forced Boban out as part of an effort to address international censure, said Zarko Puhovski, a professor of political philosophy at the University of Zagreb. Boban, a gruff former businessman, came to be seen as a political liability, Puhovski said.

“What Tudjman is trying to do is improve the image of Croatian politics while changing it as little as possible,” he said.

Tudjman’s spokeswoman, Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, said Boban was never Zagreb’s choice for the leadership of its proxies in Bosnia but had seized control.

“It will help for peace negotiations, because the Muslims always had something against Boban,” she said.

But representatives in Zagreb of Bosnia’s Muslim-led government said Boban’s ouster alone may not be enough to create a breakthrough in peace talks.

“I feel that we have to wait to see if it is . . . a sign of a change in policy and approach,” said Neven Kulenovic, a deputy consul at the Bosnian Embassy in Zagreb.

“The question is, when we are talking with Mr. Boban or Mr. Akmadzic . . . (whether) the group behind them is going to change.”