Ashdown fires Bosnia's Croat President

Bosnia peace overseer Paddy Ashdown fired Croat Dragan Covic from Bosnia's tripartite presidency yesterday for refusing to step down in the face of serious corruption charges.

"I decided to require Dragan Covic to step down from his position in the presidency with immediate effect," Mr Ashdown told a news conference in Sarajevo.

Mr Ashdown together with US and European Union officials had repeatedly urged Mr Covic to step down after state prosecutors indicted him this month together with six other Bosnian Croats for customs evasion, corruption and abuse of office.

The alleged offences were carried out between 2000 and 2003, while Mr Covic was deputy Prime Minister of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation.

Mr Ashdown said his decision was part of a wider ruling requiring that officials indicted by a court should step down in future to preserve Bosnia's international reputation.

The presidency, in charge of foreign policy in a country aspiring to join Nato and the EU, would face serious problems with a member who would be ignored by these bodies, he added. Mr Covic clinging to office "cannot be allowed to impede the country's future", Mr Ashdown said.

Neighbouring Croatia - which hopes to start EU membership talks soon - had in the past backed Bosnian Croats' hardline nationalist policies, but said it supported all decisions by the international community that should serve to "strengthen a self-sustainable independent Bosnia".

However, it voiced concern at a "noticeable tendency to sack democratically elected Bosnian Croat representatives. This is a practice that could have a serious impact on the political status of Croats in Bosnia," a government statement said.

Mr Covic, who was due to take over the rotating chairmanship of the presidency in June, had no choice but to accept Mr Ashdown's decision, which he called "unconstitutional".

Last week he refused calls to resign, complaining that Bosnian Croats were under attack.

Mr Ashdown, a former British politician, has sweeping powers to enact laws and sack politicians obstructing implementation of the Dayton peace accords in post-war Bosnia, which is made up of the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation.