UN SECURITY COUNCIL CONSIDERS SITUATION IN BOSNIA

NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Hina) - The UN Security Council on Wednesday began a debate on a report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the implementation of the UN Mission's mandate in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The session was attended by Annan's assistant for peace operations Hedi Annabi and Bosnia's Ambassador to the United Nations Husein Zivalj. In the report submitted to the Security Council on Monday, Annan says the current UN Mission to Bosnia is nearing the completion of its mandate, but maintains international observers will have to stay in the country until the end of the mandate. Annan says the Mission will terminate its basic mandate by the end of 2002 but that assistance and supervision will have to continue to preserve what has been achieved. These tasks could be performed by the international police from the region. The secretary-general's special envoy for Bosnia, Jacques Klein, has already contacted the leaders of countries and organisations which might take over the mission in Bosnia after the UN. It is assumed this could be carried out by observers and personnel of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as was the case in eastern Croatia's Danube river region. (hina) ha