Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica caused an uproar after claiming that Republika Srpska is only "temporarily detached" from Serbia. At a campaign rally, Kostunica said Srpska was "part of our family we hold very dear, very close to us and only temporarily detached from us but always ours and always in our heart," according to media reports. "We consider this to be the worst form of cheap and irresponsible electioneering," a spokesman for Bosnia's high representative told AP. The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and the Fund for Humanitarian Law also criticized the statement sas "a throwback to the Milosevic era." And Bosnian officials said the comment proved Serb nationalists are still clinging to their dream of creating a Greater Serbia -- a goal that led to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and the deaths of several hundred thousand people. Kostunica complained his statement was "wrongfully and maliciously misinterpreted" by Bosnian officials. And Bosnian Serb Republic Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic said Kostunica "has no reason to apologize," according to SRNA, a Serb news agency. MORE ON THE WEB: Serbia: Kostunica Remarks Frighten Bosnia By Milanka Saponja-Hadzic in Belgrade, Institute of War and Peace Reporting http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr2/bcr2_20020918_1_eng.txt