MARIC COMMENTS ON SFOR ACTION

MOSTAR, Oct 14 (Hina) - Head of the Mostar municipality Southwest with a Croat majority, Stipe Maric, told a news conference that in Thursday's action, Stabilisation Force troops "took documents and books" from municipal offices and had "shown determination" in doing so. SFOR troops took action in Mostar Thursday in search of illegal weapons. The SFOR blocked the building of the former Government of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna, the building of the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna Interior Ministry, the office of Croat Herzegovina Neretva County officials, and the Mostar television of Erotel. Maric claimed that armed SFOR soldiers burst into his office at 9.45am Thursday, interrupted a meeting and began dealing out pamphlets to all the people present in the room. They then forced the people out into the hall and took down their names. According to Maric's claims, SFOR troops separated the women from the rest of the personnel and took them into the lavatories to search them. They then did the same with the men. "The SFOR troops took our coffee from the kitchen and we felt like guests," Maric said, claiming that SFOR members had entered all municipal offices by breaking down locked doors. "The personnel sang patriot songs and hymns out in the hall the entire time," Maric said. He added that they were released by SFOR around 12.30pm and allowed to leave the building. (hina) lml jn