BOSNIAN SERBS REJECT ALLEGATIONS OF LACK OF COOPERATION IN SREBRENICA PROBE

BANJA LUKA, April 16 (Hina) - The Bosnian Serb government has dismissed as incorrect the allegations published by the Commission on Srebrenica that it could not gather the necessary information about the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in the summer of 1995 because of obstruction by government bodies.#L# The government issued a statement after a session on Thursday night saying that the interim report by the Commission on Srebrenica was based on "incorrect facts" and that "the grave allegations of the Commission being obstructed in its work by bodies of the Government of Republika Srpska" were formulated on the basis of that report. The Commission on Srebrenica, which was set up by the Bosnian Serb government, said in its report that it was obstructed in its work by institutions of the Bosnian Serb entity, known as Republika Srpska, primarily by the Bosnian Serb Army Central Command and the Defence Ministry. The Commission was established in the autumn of 2003 on the instructions of the Human Rights Centre of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was given six months to look into the circumstances of the Srebrenica massacre and provide the families of missing persons with information about what had happened to their loved ones. The Commission submitted its preliminary report on Wednesday and asked for the deadline for submission of a final document to be extended until October 12, explaining that it could not obtain relevant documents. The government criticised the Commission for lack of efficiency, blaming it on the Commission chairman, former president of the Republika Srpska Constitutional Court Marko Arsovic. "In order to improve the Commission's work, and owing to the health of Commission chairman Marko Arsovic that has evidently deteriorated, the government will focus on appointing a new chairman who will be able to lead the Commission to success," the statement said. (Hina) vm