DEFENCE MINISTER RECEIVES OUTGOING SFOR COMMANDER

ZAGREB, Aug 21 (Hina) - Croatian Defence Minister Jozo Rados on Tuesday received the outgoing commander of NATO's Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia, Lt. Gen. Michael L. Dodson. Dodson said the SFOR was not cancelling its contract and ending cooperation with the Rijeka seaport in the northern Adriatic but opening another corridor for supplying U.S. troops in Slovenia's Koper. Minister Rados thanked the SFOR for everything it had done to preserve peace and reconcile the three armies in Bosnia. He said that besides politics, Bosnia was hampered by a poor economic situation, and added Croatia was interested in participating more actively in the reconstruction of Bosnia. Lt. Gen. Dodson said the current situation in Bosnia was stable and peaceful. He stressed the importance of reviving the economy in Bosnia and economic cooperation among the region's countries. Asked about the arrest of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, Dodson said they still had very powerful friends protecting them. It is a matter of time before they are arrested, he said. Reporters asked Rados if he had read a Newsweek magazine article about cooperation between the CIA and Croatian intelligence services during 1995's Operation Storm, which liberated Croatian territories then occupied by Serb rebels. Rados said the Defence Ministry's stance was to neither confirm nor refute the allegations. (hina) ha