SARAJEVO, March 30 (Hina) - The foreign minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mladen Ivanic, is regarded responsible for the illegal export of arms and military equipment to Iraq, and it is very possible that he will be sanctioned in the
same manner as the current chairman of the Bosnian three-man Presidency, Serb representative Mirko Sarovic, two Sarajevo-based dailies reported on Sunday.
SARAJEVO, March 30 (Hina) - The foreign minister of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Mladen Ivanic, is regarded responsible for the
illegal export of arms and military equipment to Iraq, and it is
very possible that he will be sanctioned in the same manner as the
current chairman of the Bosnian three-man Presidency, Serb
representative Mirko Sarovic, two Sarajevo-based dailies reported
on Sunday. #L#
Basing their reports on a confidential document of the
international community, which established the liability of
Bosnian officials for illegal military cooperation with Iraq, the
papers -- Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz -- said Sarovic was directly
involved in the wrongdoing given that he had been the president of
the Bosnian Serb entity, and thus the supreme commander of the army
of that part of Bosnia at the time when murky dealings were carried
out. Because of his post and political functions, Sarovic
undoubtedly had to know about the entire case.
At that time Mladen Ivanic was the premier of the Republic of
Srpska, and he was not directly engaged in the control of the
business activities of the main culprit, i.e. the institute for the
overhauling of aircraft, "Orao", which co-operated with Baghdad.
Ivanic, however, took part in the activities of the entity's
Supreme Defence Council, a body which was chaired by Sarovic and
which possessed all data and information about what the army and
military industry's plant were doing.
An investigating team, including senior international officials in
Bosnia, found that Ivanic, in his capacity as the premier at the
time, must have known all about at least the company "Cajevec" also
suspected of murky dealings with the Saddam Hussein regime. The
Banja Luka-based company exported electronic equipment to the
Iraqi army.
SFOR Chief Commander, American General William Ward, was quoted by
the Oslobodjenje as saying that Bosnian Serb political officials
anyway bore responsibility for this scandal. If they knew about the
murky dealings with Iraq, they deliberately violated the UN embargo
on the arms export to that country, or if they did not know, then
they committed a glaring omission, according to the commander of
the NATO-led international peace-keepers in Bosnia.
Yet another aggravating circumstance is the fact that local
authorities in Banja Luka systematically tried to conceal evidence
on that scandal.
It is expected that Sarovic will either resign or be dismissed from
the Bosnian presidency on Tuesday or Wednesday.
There are still no indications of which consequences the incumbent
Bosnian foreign minister Ivanic will bear.
(hina) ms