Ethnic Croats feel sidelined in Bosnia, leaders say

By Daria Sito-Sucic

MOSTAR, Bosnia (Reuters) - The "Maja" beauty salon in the divided Bosnian town of Mostar is buzzing with the chatter of Croat and Muslim women looking for a fresh hairdo, a quick manicure and the latest juicy gossip.

The relaxed chitchat would have been unimaginable 10 years ago when the wounds of the 1992-95 war were fresher, and such progress, already slow, now faces fresh obstacles as Croats grow disenchanted with their status in Bosnia and friction mounts.

Mostar was split by the war along the emerald Neretva river that runs through it: Croats to the West, Muslims to the East. From a position of power as the majority in the city, the Croats have for years obstructed its reintegration.

But in Bosnia as a whole they form the smallest of the main ethnic groups and now, as their influence wanes through emigration and dwindling support from next-door Croatia, they are crying foul and demanding an improvement of their status.

"The Croats have constitutional rights on paper but not in decision-making at any level of governance," said Bozo Ljubic, head of HDZ 1990, one of two Croat parties in the Bosnian government.

Under the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the war, the Croats are one of three equal nations making up Bosnia, along with the more numerous Muslims and Serbs.

They share the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina -- one of Bosnia's autonomous halves -- with four times as many Bosnian Muslims, while ethnic Serbs dominate the other half, the Serb Republic.

Following the secession of Kosovo from Serbia last month as willed by its 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, the Bosnian Serbs are increasingly restive, warning that they too constitute an overwhelming majority and may decide to secede from Bosnia.