BOSNIA TO ASSIST IN SHEDDING LIGHT ON SANEL SJEKIRICA CASE - MINISTER

MOSTAR, April 9 (Hina) - The government of Bosnia-Herzegovina will take all the necessary steps to assist in shedding light on the case of Bosnian citizen Sanel Sjekirica, who is suspected by Spanish authorities of involvement in the recent Madrid train bombings, Bosnian Security Minister Barisa Colak said on Friday.#L# In an interview with Mostar-based Radio Herceg-Bosna, Colak said the case might slow the process of the country's admission to Western institutions. "Failure by Bosnia-Herzegovina to act seriously and take all the necessary action in combating organised crime and terrorism might substantially affect its efforts to join the European Union and NATO," Colak said. Colak said his country had stepped up efforts over the last six months to determine how people of African and Asian origin had been granted Bosnian citizenship during the war. "We want to know where those people are now," he said, adding that "it was not seldom that those people changed their place of residence and names". "This is a complex process to which Bosnia-Herzegovina must devote special attention if it really wants to be a state," Colak said. (Hina) vm