MOSTAR: CEREMONY OF START OF OLD BRIDGE'S RECONSTRUCTION IN SEPT.

MOSTAR, June 14 (Hina) - A ceremony for the start of the reconstruction of the famous Old Bridge in Mostar is scheduled for September this year, and representatives of donor countries will be present, the authorities of this southern Bosnian city said on Thursday. #L# The city authorities thus denied a statement of Bosnia- Herzegovina's presidency that the beginning of the reconstruction would be marked on 27 June in the presence of Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. "During his visit to Bosnia and Mostar on 27 June this year, Italian President Ciampi will start stone-dressing works with a symbolic strike of a chisel on a stone, and this is not certainly any start of the works on the reconstruction of the Old Bridge," read a statement issued by the Mostar authorities. The ceremony is scheduled for September, they added. Italy, donating 3.3 million US dollars, is the biggest donor. Local media in Mostar on Thursday said Turkey, the second-largest donor, was dissatisfied with the statement issued by the Bosnian Presidency a day before. Croatia has recently joined donors, allocating about US$600,000. The Old Bridge, built during the Ottoman rule in Mostar, was demolished by Bosnian Croat (HVO) artillery units during the Croat- Muslim conflict in autumn 1993. (hina) ms sb