Croatian Serbs form government-in-exile

Croatian Serbs form government-in-exile
BBC Worldwide Monitoring - February 26, 2005, Saturday

Excerpt from report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA

Belgrade, 26 February: The parliament-in-exile of the Republic of Serb Krajina in Croatia (RSK) formed a new RSK government in Belgrade today, and elected Milorad Buha from Beli Manastir as prime minister.

The RSK government received a mandate to continue the political dialogue with the authorities in Zagreb, through EU and UN mediation, with the aim of resolving the Serb question in Croatia.

A statement distributed to the press in the Dom Sindikata Trade Union Centre , where the gathering was held, says that the parliament noted that "not even nine years after the Croatian army's brutal aggression, occupation and ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the RSK have Croatia and the international community done anything to continue the process of resolving the Serb question in Croatia".

"This process was conducted under the auspices of the UN and was interrupted by the Croatian army's attack on the RSK, a zone under the protection of the UN," the statement said.

The session stressed that the RSK Serbs would never accept ethnic cleansing as a method for resolving political issues.

The parliament adopted a resolution which, besides a short historical chronology of the centuries of Serb presence on the territory of today's Croatia, presents facts showing that "Croatia would never exist as a state and be internationally recognized had it not been for the Serbs and their mass antifascist movement on the territory of the Nazi NDH Independent State of Croatia in WW2.

SOURCE: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1400 gmt 26 Feb 05