Bosnia peace overseer Paddy Ashdown fired Croat Dragan Covic from Bosnia's tripartite presidency on Tuesday 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," Ashdown told a news conference in Sarajevo. Ashdown together with U.S. and European Union officials had repeatedly urged 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 Covic was deputy prime minister of Bosnia's Muslim-Croat federation. 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. Covic clinging to office "cannot be allowed to impede the country's future", Ashdown said. --More 2330 Local Time 2030 GMT
