Bosnian leader bows out

Izetbegovic: A hero for Muslims during Sarajevo siege

The Bosnian leader Alija Izetbegovic, a key figure in the 1992-1995 war, has announced that he will step down from Bosnia-Hercegovina's collective presidency in October.

Speaking on Bosnian television, Mr Izetbegovic said the main reason for his decision was that he was "no longer in the physical and mental condition" required for the job.

Mr Izetbegovic became an international figure during the Bosnian conflict, when his capital Sarajevo was besieged for years by Bosnian Serb forces.

There are a number of reasons, the main ones being my age - I turn 75 in August - and my health

Alija Izetbegovic

He led the Muslim-dominated Bosnian government from sandbagged buildings in the city centre, symbolising the government's defiance in a war which claimed more than 200,000 lives.

"I want to inform you about my decision to retire after the completion of my term as the chairman of the presidency," he said.

Bosnia-Hercegovina has a three-man collective presidency comprised of a Muslim, a Serb and a Croat. Their four-year term expires in September 2001.

International community's role

Mr Izetbegovic, who turns 75 in August, spent several weeks in a Sarajevo hospital in 1996 because of heart trouble and had medical checks during a visit to the United States last year.

Mr Izetbegovic also said there were "some misunderstandings between me and the international community... which could damage the further consolidation of the situation in Bosnia".

"The international community is pushing things forward in Bosnia... but it is doing it at expense of the Moslem people. I feel it as an injustice," he said.

"These are the things that I cannot live with. Somebody must come who can deal with such problems."

A mortar attack on civilians during the siege of Sarajevo in 1995

As possible successors he named his former associate Haris Silajdzic, the Muslim-Croat Federation's Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic and the Muslim mayor of the southern town of Mostar, Safet Orucevic.

Some Western officials have criticised Mr Izetbegovic and his party over the slow pace of economic reforms and a failure to enable more returns of Serb and Croat refugees.

'Dedo'

Mr Izetbegovic was among the signatories of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement which ended the war.

He has led the main Bosnian Muslim SDA party since he founded it in 1990, and was elected chairman of Bosnia's multi-ethnic presidency before the 1992-95 conflict erupted.

Many Bosnian Muslims call him "dedo" (grandpa) for his "father of the nation" role since the break-up of former Yugoslavia.

He wrote an "Islamic declaration" in 1970 which the former communist authorities in Yugoslavia interpreted as a call for the introduction of fundamentalist Sharia law in Bosnia-Hercegovina. He was jailed for nine years for the text in 1983, but released in 1988.