SENATOR DOLE PRESENT AT EXHUMATION IN BUGOJNO

( Editorial: --> 9493 ) BUGOJNO, April 25 (Hina) - US Senator Bob Dole was on Saturday present at the exhumation of bodies of seven Croats killed in the Bugojno municipality (central Bosnia-Herzegovina) in 1993. Senator Dole is the chairman of the International Commission for Missing Persons. This exhumation is another example of how three sides can cooperate in solving the issue of persons that had gone missing during the war, Dole said. He told reporters in Bugojno that he would report to US President Bill Clinton that progress had been achieved in the area, but that there were still obstacles hindering a quicker process of the exhumation and the establishment of the whereabouts of many still missing persons. Dole was also present at the exhumation site in Bradine, and will be visiting another site in Capljina during the afternoon. According to the president of the Bugojno-based Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Ante Mustapic, exhumed were elderly men who had been killed after conflicts between the Bosnia- Herzegovina army and Croatian defence Council conflicts had ceased, during the night of 30 October 1993. The men had been shot at point blank in the head. Deputy to the international High Representative in Bosnia- Herzegovina, Jacques Klein, said that if the three sides in Bosnia- Herzegovina could cooperate in such difficult issues such as exhumations, they could cooperate in solving all other problems. Klein expressed regret that Bugojno municipal head, Dzevad Mlaco, had not been present at the exhumation. (hina) lm 251709 MET apr 98