IT IS DANGEROUS TO ANNOUNCE ELECTION WINNER PREMATURELY - BARRY

( Editorial: --> 6435 ) SARAJEVO, Aug 27 (Hina) - OSCE mission chief in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Robert Barry, on Thursday said the peace process in the country begun with the signing of the Dayton Agreement was still far from irretrievable. It is, thus, necessary to work on its implementation with full speed, Barry said. Experience teaches us that it is very dangerous when the international community prematurely announces the winner of elections. We saw this in examples of Cambodia, Haiti and Croatia , Barry said in Sarajevo during an international conference on preventing conflicts. Accomplishments in the military field are not sufficient to ensure stability of democratic processes, the chief of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said. He said all help forwarded to Bosnia-Herzegovina should be conditional upon the consistent implementation of the civilian part of the peace agreement. Before being admitted into the Council of Europe, Bosnia should fulfil all conditions valid for other members, and not subsequent reforms, he added. Barry criticised the statements of certain Bosnian politicians pointing to a division of certain parts of the country. He mentioned the president of Republika Srpska, Biljana Plavsic, and president of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Ante Jelavic. The territorial integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia-Herzegovina are the crux of the Dayton Agreement and there is no legal way for the separation of any of its parts, Barry said. He warned that no one-sided proclamation of independence of any one part of Bosnia-Herzegovina would be allowed. (hina) lml 272032 MET aug 98