Moderate Muslim and Croat parties formed a regional parliament in Bosnia on Thursday without Croat nationalists, who held large protests and threatened to paralyse central government. A week of Western-mediated talks between the parties had failed to produce a power-sharing deal five months after elections in Bosnia, which is still riven by ethnic rivalry stemming from a 1992-5 war in the ex-Yugoslav republic.
The two main Croat parties had refused to join the coalition led by the multi-ethnic Social Democratic Party, insisting they should get all government jobs set aside for Croats as they won most votes from the group. Thousands of Croat students, veterans and politicians staged peaceful protests in several Croat-dominated towns on Thursday against what they said was "the systematic undermining of the Croat people".
Bosnian Croat leader Dragan Covic said he would call on all Croats to disobey authorities formed in "such an illegal and anti-constitutional way". Bosnia, split into Muslim-Croat and Serb halves, is overseen by an international envoy who reports to a Peace Implementation Council (PIC) grouping governments involved in overseeing the 1995 US-brokered Dayton peace deal.
The PIC was not immediately available for specific comment on Thursday's move but urged all parties to act responsibly. "The political parties must now turn their attention to the urgent practical challenges facing the people of Bosnia," it said in a statement.
The Croat boycott means the new regional parliament, which is supposed to send delegates to the central administration, is incomplete and makes it unlikely Bosnia will have a functioning central government without fresh elections. The nationalist Serb allies of the Croat nationalists have refused to cooperate with the moderates at state level.
Western officials have repeatedly called on Bosnian leaders to overcome divisions and form authorities able to push through reforms needed for European integration and economic recovery. Bosnian political analyst Svetlana Cenic said the country badly needed responsible government after more than a decade of rule by nationalist parties born from the three warring groups. "I see no point expecting any results with the same people in power again."
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