ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 1, 1996 TAG: 9612020069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-15 EDITION: METRO
Triumvirate creates new government
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - After haggling since September elections, Bosnia's three-member presidency agreed Saturday on the makeup of a new government, with a Bosnian Serb and a Muslim to rotate weekly in the post of de facto prime minister.
The six-person, ethnically balanced Council of Ministers also will include a Croat as vice chairman and as foreign minister, a Bosnian Serb as minister for civil affairs and communications and a Bosnian Muslim as minister for foreign trade and economic relations.
Each minister will have two deputies representing Bosnia's other two ethnic groups.
``Some people might say it's a complicated structure; some people might say it's extravagant,'' international mediator Michael Steiner said. ``But it is a structure which takes into account that after the war there is still so much mistrust.''
Steiner called it another step on the road to fulfilling the Dayton peace accord and giving Bosnia a single, common government.
In the first elections since fighting stopped a year ago, voters chose a Serb, a Croat and a Muslim to serve on a three-member presidency. Bosnian voters also selected a joint legislature.
- Associated Press
Peace accord signedin Sierra Leone
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - Sierra Leone's president and rebel army leader signed a peace accord Saturday to end a five-year civil war and usher in what both vowed would be a new era of peace and democracy.
In a solemn ceremony in the presidential palace in Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah and rebel chief Foday Sankoh shook hands, then raised their fists together in celebration after signing the 28-point agreement.
The deal calls for foreign forces, including South African mercenaries, to be withdrawn, for the government to establish work-training programs for ex-rebels, and for incorporation of some former rebels into the national army.
``Our common enemies now are hunger, poverty, ignorance and greed,'' said Kabbah, urging forgiveness by civilians affected by the war. ``Crying for revenge or retribution will surely weaken our country and intensify our pain.''
- Associated Press
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