BOSNIAN SERBS MUST REPORT ON ARMS TRADE SCANDAL BY MARCH 17

SARAJEVO, Feb 21 (Hina) - Bosnian Serb authorities have been ordered to investigate the circumstances under which the Bijeljina-based "Orao" company violated the U.N.'s embargo on arms trade with Iraq and on March 17 submit a report to international organisations in the country on people responsible for the scandal. #L# The office of High Representative Paddy Ashdown on Friday issued a statement noting that the report on the scandal which Bosnian Serb authorities had submitted last December was incomplete, lacking certain very important information. The chief commander of the Stabilisation Force (SFOR), General William Ward, on Wednesday sent a letter to Republika Srpska President Dragan Cavic, stating that the document did not answer some very important questions and urging that this be done by March 17. Ashdown's office also warned that the above date was the final deadline by which the Serbs had to meet obligations they had assumed. The office further states that if this is not done, the international community will have to act in accordance with the gravity of the problem. Almost all Bosnian media have claimed that the current chairman of the collective state presidency, Mirko Sarovic, would have difficulty dodging liability for the scandal, as at the time the company exported military equipment to Iraq he held the highest posts in the Serb entity. (hina) rml sb