US DOES NOT CONDONE DISCUSSIONS ON DIVISION OF BOSNIA - GELBARD

( Editorial: --> 1561 ) SARAJEVO, Feb 12 (Hina) - The US administration sees the appointment of Milorad Dodik as Republika Srpska Premier as a great opportunity for a speedier implementation of the Dayton agreement, said special envoy of the US President for the Balkans, Robert Gelbard. Dodik can count on considerable financial aid of the international community, said Gelbard in an interview with the Sarajevo-based newspaper 'Dani'. He described Dodik's appointment as a 'historic chance' since both Dodik and Biljana Plavsic had made it clear that they would implement the Dayton agreement. The US diplomat warned though that words would not be enough and that promises had to be followed by concrete acts. The US administration believed that none of the parties in Bosnia were fulfilling their obligations completely, Gelbard said, adding President Clinton had told that to the members of the Bosnian presidency during his visit to Sarajevo in December last year. The Presidency and the Council of Ministers are terribly annoying in their incapability or lack of will to establish bodies of authority in the country, Gelbard said, stressing that such behaviour was the reason for granting greater powers to High Representative Carlos Westendorp. Gelbard criticised once again the statement by the Croat Presidency member Kresimir Zubak that the United States was ready even for the division of Bosnia-Herzegovina should all three sides agree to it. We don't condone any discussion on the division of Bosnia- Herzegovina and I think that with this statement Zubak acted completely irresponsibly, Gelbard said, adding Zubak had otherwise been very cooperative in solving some questions. Asked about his government's stand on Herzeg-Bosnia, Gelbard said the Croat side in Bosnia had been requested to continue dissolving Herzeg-Bosnian bodies of authority. There can be only one state of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and there is no room in it either for Herzeg-Bosnian bodies of authority or bodies of the former Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gelbard said. The same applied to the Bosniak (Muslim) secret police AID, Gelbard said, adding AID would be reorganised very soon on the basis of the Split agreement between Presidents Tudjman and Izetbegovic. Gelbard also expressed dissatisfaction with the presence of mujahedeen in Bosnia. It was clear that mujahedeen were responsible for terrorism in central Bosnia, as well as for the car-bomb explosion in western Mostar, Gelbard said. (hina) rm 122214 MET feb 98