Former high political functionary and diplomat Raif Dizdarević died this morning in Sarajevo at the age of 100.
Dizdarević was born on December 9, 1926, and was a participant in the National Liberation Struggle (NOB) from 1943, when he also became a member of the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ). In the period from 1945 to 1951, he worked in the service of the State Security Administration.
He began his diplomatic career in SFR Yugoslavia in 1951, holding various posts in embassies in Bulgaria, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.
During his rich political career, he held some of the most important state functions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the former Yugoslavia. He was the President of the Presidency of the SR BiH from 1978 to 1982 and the President of the Assembly of the SFRY from 1982 to 1983.
He held the position of Federal Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the SFRY from May 15, 1984 to December 30, 1987, after which he became a member of the Presidency of the SFRY. He held the office of President of the Presidency of the SFRY from May 15, 1988 to May 15, 1989, assuming that position after the resignation of Hamdija Pozderac.
He is the author of the memoir “From the death of Tito to the death of Yugoslavia”, in which he analyzed in detail the key political events and the breakup of the Yugoslav federation, as well as a book of memories of events and personalities entitled “Vrijeme koje se pamti”.
