FRENCH DEFENCE MINISTER VISITS MOSTAR

MOSTAR, Jan 1 (Hina) - French Defence Minister Alain Richard on Friday said France was not opposed to having its soldiers within NATO's peacekeeping Stabilisation Force (SFOR) take part in the arrest of war criminals in Bosnia. The 2,500-men French component of the SFOR makes for the majority of SFOR's multinational division in southern Bosnia, where no arrests of war criminals have taken place to date. Richard said there was no difference among SFOR members, adding he believed the political will of French authorities was not to be doubted. The Defence Minister spoke to reporters at the SFOR French headquarters in Ortijes, an airport 10km south of Mostar. Richard pointed out that in southern Bosnia, SFOR's units, commanded by French General Pierre Lang, had encountered resistance from local population. The possibilities to arrest war criminals in south-eastern Bosnia were according to Richard more difficult than in other parts of the country due to technical causes and uncoordinated cooperation with other divisions. Speaking about the crisis in the south Yugoslav province of Kosovo, the French Defence Minister said the international community would have to intensify the recently alleviated military pressure if incidents continued to escalate. Currently discussed was the possibility of including a higher number of Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe verifiers in Kosovo monitoring the cease-fire, Richard said. (hina) ha