NATO'S ROBERTSON INSISTS ON RE-ORGANISATION OF ARMED FORCES IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, July 19 (Hina) - NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and the international community's High Representative to Bosnia- Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petritsch, on Wednesday called Bosnian authorities to make more efforts in re-organisation and reduction of the two entities' armed forces, as it is a pre-condition for the country's admission into West European integration processes, particularly into NATO's Partnership for Peace Programme. Robertson visited Sarajevo, leading a NATO delegation which was made up of ambassadors of 19 NATO member-countries. The NATO delegation met the three-man Bosnian Presidency to discuss cuts in the current armed forces and establishment of a joint army. The armed forces of the two entities must be reduced and integrated and this is the task on which the Bosnian Presidency should work, Robertson told reporters in the Bosnian capital. The first step in this direction is to curtail the current troops of the entities' armies by 15 percent until the end of this year and then to strengthen the country's defence structures, primarily the Standing Commission for Military Matters (SCMM), the alliance's Secretary-General added. Petritsch described the Bosnian Serb complaint that the establishment of the united army in Bosnia is contrary to the Dayton Agreement, as a completely groundless statement. What we would like to see is the progress in the peace process and the re-organisation of armed forces is a part of the process, the High Representative added. Robertson told reporters that there were no plans for reducing the number of NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) troops deployed in Bosnia. Asked about war criminals, the Briton expressed confidence that Karadzic, Mladic and Milosevic would face trials before the international tribunal in The Hague. (hina) mm ms