STABILISATION FORCE WRAPS UP OPERATION AT PALE OUTSIDE SARAJEVO

SARAJEVO, Aug 28 (Hina) - Members of the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday evening wrapped up an operation conducted over the past two days in the area of Pale (outside Sarajevo), SFOR spokesman Dale MacEachern told reporters in Sarajevo on Thursday. #L# MacEachern said that the operation had met its goal, but he would not elaborate on its purpose. SFOR troops had the task to monitor the situation at Pale in the event of attempts to jeopardise the country's progress and development, he said. In the past two days, SFOR troops were positioned at major cross- roads in Pale and their vehicles could be seen in front of the municipal government building and the local police station. They were also deployed in the vicinity of houses used by runaway war criminal Radovan Karadzic's daughter and wife. The SFOR spokesman would not comment on media claims that the purpose of the operation was to arrest the former Bosnian Serb leader. MacEachern confirmed that similar operations had been conducted over the past few days in north-eastern Bosnia as well, near the villages of Njivak and Ostra Luka and near Trebinje and Mostar. He said that the operations were not part of the "Dynamic Response 2003" exercise, which would be carried out in Bosnia and Kosovo in the next 30 days. The purpose of the exercise is to maintain the level of readiness of some 6,000 NATO troops available in case the security situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina deteriorated, MacEachern said. (hina) rml