CROATIA WON'T BE ADMITTED TO NATO AS LONG AS GOTOVINA IS AT LARGE - US AMBASSADOR

SARAJEVO, April 10 (Hina) - The existing criteria for NATO membership, which include full cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, will not be changed because of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Serbia-Montenegro, the US ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina has said.#L# In an interview with the Sarajevo-based daily Dnevni Avaz published on Saturday, Ambassador Clifford Bond said that failure by Croatia to hand over General Ante Gotovina to the Hague tribunal now appeared as an obstacle to its admission to NATO. The NATO Council is clear on this matter. Full cooperation with the Hague tribunal is a precondition for the integration of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro into Euro-Atlantic associations, the US diplomat said. There are certain standards for admission into this elite club and they will not be changed or softened because of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Serbia-Montenegro, Bond said. Speaking of the problem that indicted war criminals who were still at large presented to Bosnia-Herzegovina, the US ambassador said that they might become an obstacle to the country's admission to NATO's Partnership for Peace programme. Unless Bosnia-Herzegovina receives an invitation at the Istanbul summit to join the Partnership for Peace, it will be necessary to open a debate on the country's internal reorganisation in order to make it more viable and capable of responding to the requests for the apprehension of war criminals, Bond said. (Hina) vm