SARAJEVO, Mar 8 (Hina) - The Croatian government is willing to completely rearrange the sending of financial assistance to the Croat component of the Bosnian Federation army, Croatian Defence Minister Jozo Rados said in Sarajevo on
Wednesday. He said this decision announced an open policy the government would have in the future towards the West and neighbouring countries, primarily Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rados arrived in the Bosnian capital without announcements that he would meet the members of Bosnia's Presidency, the minister and deputy minister of defence of Bosnia's Croat-Muslim Federation, or United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who is on a two-day official visit to Bosnia. Speaking to the press after the two-hour meeting, Rados said the military assistance Croatia was giving Croats in Bosnia had been a major burden on Croatia's international standing. Now there is full willin
SARAJEVO, Mar 8 (Hina) - The Croatian government is willing to
completely rearrange the sending of financial assistance to the
Croat component of the Bosnian Federation army, Croatian Defence
Minister Jozo Rados said in Sarajevo on Wednesday.
He said this decision announced an open policy the government would
have in the future towards the West and neighbouring countries,
primarily Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Rados arrived in the Bosnian capital without announcements that he
would meet the members of Bosnia's Presidency, the minister and
deputy minister of defence of Bosnia's Croat-Muslim Federation, or
United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who is on a
two-day official visit to Bosnia.
Speaking to the press after the two-hour meeting, Rados said the
military assistance Croatia was giving Croats in Bosnia had been a
major burden on Croatia's international standing. Now there is full
willingness to lift the burden, he said.
Albright elaborated the U.S. and Croatian governments had reached
an agreement to the effect that all military assistance Croatia
would direct to Bosnia in the future should be monitored by Bosnia's
Standing Commission for Military Matters (SCMM), a joint body of
authority in charge of politically directing defence matters.
The common goal is to thus help build trust in Bosnia and eliminate
any possibility of surprise on the military level, Albright said.
She pointed out the U.S. government wanted to encourage
transparency and solidify the role of Bosnia's central bodies of
authority, such as the SCMM.
Albright added the agreement also envisaged full consent on the
matter on the part of the three countries' governments. Washington
will at once concretely support Croatia's willingness to co-
operate on this level by directing U.S. military assistance to the
Bosnian Federation through the SCMM.
This decision also refers to assistance realised through "Equip and
Train", a U.S. government programme which is being implemented
since the signing of the Dayton peace agreement in 1995.
According to Croatian Defence Minister Rados, concrete solutions
in connection with the Sarajevo agreement will be defined over the
next two months. What is agreed will become a constituent part of an
agreement on special relations between Croatia and the Bosnian
Federation, and will have to be ratified by the Croatian
parliament.
"We are thus directly contributing to the stabilisation of the
situation in the entire Southeast Europe," he said.
Bosnian Federation Defence Minister Miroslav Prce expressed hope
the new channel of granting assistance to Croats in Bosnia would
incite others to make additional efforts to ensure full
transparency of military expenses of all sides in Bosnia.
Bosnia's Muslims and Serbs have not taken any formal obligations
thus far in connection with respecting the Croatia-U.S. agreement.
It is expected however this will happen soon.
(hina) ha