SARAJEVO, Nov 27 (Hina) - The admission of Bosnia-Herzegovina into NATO's Partnership for Peace programme does not depend only on the reorganisation of the country's defence system, but also on its government's readiness to
participate in the arrest and hand-over of war crimes suspects, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said in Sarajevo on Thursday.
SARAJEVO, Nov 27 (Hina) - The admission of Bosnia-Herzegovina into
NATO's Partnership for Peace programme does not depend only on the
reorganisation of the country's defence system, but also on its
government's readiness to participate in the arrest and hand-over
of war crimes suspects, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson
said in Sarajevo on Thursday. #L#
Robertson arrived in Sarajevo today after a trip to Belgrade.
In the Bosnian capital he held talks with the most senior state
officials and international representatives in the country.
Speaking at a news conference, Robertson said it was regrettable
that people like Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic were still at
large, but added that the search for them would continue,
regardless of who may be at the helm of NATO.
He confirmed that all the commanders of the Stabilisation Force
(SFOR) in Bosnia had an order to take all necessary measures to
arrest war crimes suspects, and would continue to have such an
order. He stressed, though, that the largest share of
responsibility for the arrest and transfer of war criminals lay
with local authorities and politicians and that they could no
lodger dodge that responsibility.
The international community's High Representative to Bosnia, Paddy
Ashdown, said that commitment to cooperation with the UN war crimes
tribunal for the former Yugoslavia had to be demonstrated with
deeds in the next two to three months.
This explicitly refers to the authorities of the Bosnian Serb
entity, he said.
Otherwise, Bosnia-Herzegovina will not be able to join Partnership
for Peace, Ashdown added.
Robertson, Ashdown and the chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Dragan Covic, agreed that the country had done a lot to
reorganise its defence system and establish united defence
structures.
However, the NATO secretary-general and the High Representative
reiterated their criticism of Serb political representatives for
failure to implement agreements.
Serb deputies in the Bosnian parliament today refused to
participate in a vote on the new defence law.
Robertson said such behaviour showed that politicians in Bosnia
were still conducting an irresponsible policy, while Ashdown said
that this proved that Bosnia-Herzegovina was not taking NATO
seriously and could easily miss the chance to join the Partnership
for Peace programme.
(hina) rml sb