SFOR STEPS UP PATROLS IN HERZEGOVINA

MOSTAR, March 28 (Hina) - Spokesman for the Sector South-East UN- led Stabilisation Forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jorg Lehmann, warned Wednesday that the SFOR deemed as unacceptable any form of a so-called Bosnian Croat independent military structure. The SFOR will not recognise such an organisation. Bosnian Croat armed forces outside the frames of the Bosnian Federation Army are not permitted by the Dayton Agreement, Lehmann told a news conference in Mostar. He confirmed SFOR is carefully observing events in the south-east sector, and has stepped up patrols in the area. The SFOR supports all efforts to restore political stability into the lives of those serving the Bosnian Federation Army, especially the Croat component of the armed forces, he said, stressing that the UN-led troops only recognised the mandates of members of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, the Bosnian Federation Defence Ministry and the Bosnian Federation Army Joint Chiefs-of-Staff. Spokesman for the Office of the (international ) High Representative (OHR) Oleg Milisic, who took part in a joint news conference of international officials in Mostar for the first time, said the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, also supported only legal officials of the federal Defence Ministry and Bosnian Federation Army Joint Chiefs-of-Staff. Asked whether the Croat National Assembly's decision on disbanding the Croatian Defence Council jeopardised the security of citizens and the legal order in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Milisic answered in the negative, adding the process in Bosnia-Herzegovina was a complex one and requires more time. Soldiers, officers and non-commissioned officers of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina army's Croat component started leaving all HVO barracks in the country following yesterday's call of the Croat National Assembly on HVO units to disband temporarily. (hina) lml