Kostunica visits Bosnian Serb republic

The funeral procession for Bosnian poet Jovan Ducic in Trebinje

TREBINJE, Bosnia-Herzegovina (Reuters) -- Bosnian Serb leaders have given Vojislav Kostunica a presidential welcome at the start of his visit to the Serb part of the former Yugoslav republic.

The Yugoslav president was greeted as he arrived by car at the southern town of Trebinje for an Orthodox church service to honour the poet Jovan Ducic, whose remains were brought from the United States for the ceremony.

Kostunica had written to the joint post-war leadership of Bosnia, which had protested that the Sunday visit violated diplomatic protocol by not being organised through the capital Sarajevo, to say it was a private trip that would not be politicised.

However the republic's leaders, as they greeted Kostunica, made clear that they viewed it as an official visit by laying on an honour guard.

Kostunica had appeared to give in to pressure from the international officials running Bosnia by including a visit to the capital Sarajevo on the tour.

Diplomats said he would hold brief talks later with Bosnian officials at Sarajevo airport, making it the first official visit by a Yugoslav president to Sarajevo since Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence in 1992.

Kostunica's predecessor Slobodan Milosevic is widely blamed for stirring the devastating conflict that broke out in 1992 and lasted until 1995, when he signed up to a peace agreement dividing Bosnia into two highly autonomous entities -- a Serb republic and Muslim-Croat federation.

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Milosevic continued to support Bosnian Serb separatists after the war and refused to establish diplomatic relations with Sarajevo unless it dropped charges against Belgrade it had lodged with an international court over the conflict.

Jacques Klein, head of the U.N. mission to Bosnia, said the visit to Sarajevo by Kostunica, who replaced Milosevic earlier this month, marked a break with the past and would give all sides a chance to discuss future ties.

Klein said he would fly by helicopter to Trebinje on Sunday and return to Sarajevo with Kostunica and Zivko Radisic, the Serb member of Bosnia's three-member, inter-ethnic presidency.

Kostunica will then hold a meeting with Radisic, acting Muslim presidency member Halid Genjac and Bosnian Foreign Minister Jadanko Prlic, a Croat.

Croat presidency member Ante Jelavic is also expected to participate.

"This is a historic moment... they will have a chance for a serious discussion on future bilateral relations," Klein said.

"The fact that he is coming shows that he has statesmanship character. The Milosevic era is over."

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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