STABILISATION FORCES SEEK DISMISSAL OF TWO CRO DEFENCE COUNCIL

( Editorial: --> 5517 ) SARAJEVO, Oct 4 (Hina) - Commander-In-Chief of the Stabilisation Forces General Eric Shinseki has asked that two Croatian Defence Council generals be dismissed. Shinseki demanded that the two generals, Stanko Sopta and Ilija Rasic be dismissed from their command posts in the Bosnian Federation army and to be immediately discharged from the armed forces. SFOR spokesman Glenn Chamberlaine told Croatian news agency, HINA on Sunday that the request had been made as it had been undeniably confirmed that the two high ranking HVO officers had interfered during the pre-election campaign at the recently held elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Conduct such as this is inadmissible and is against the law which defines the role of the army in democratic society. We expect that the request for their discharge from the armed forces be implemented without delay" said Chamberlaine. General Sopta, a former commander of the First Military Guard in the Bosnian Federation Military forces which included members of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), had already been suspended a month ago at Shinseki's request. The decision to bring charges was brought by the Croat member of the Bosnian Presidency, Kresimir Zubak in his role as the civil commander of the Croat component of the Bosnian Federation forces. At the same time, Zubak ordered that an investigation be conducted to ascertain allegations that General Sopta and his soldiers had engaged in illegal activities by participating in the pre-election campaign. General Shinseki forwarded a letter on September 29 to the newly elected Croat representative to the Bosnian Presidency as well as to General Zivko Budimir, the deputy commander of the joint command of the Federation forces. The letter stated that the request for discharge had been expanded to include Brigadier Ilija Rasic, commander of the Fourth Military Guard. Shinseki accused Rasic of engaging HVO military police to frighten participants of a rally held by the newly formed New Croatian Initiative party in Orasje as well as other political involvement. "This involvement of an active officer of the army in political events cannot be tolerated as it undermines the system of civil control by armed forces", notes the request for Rasic's discharge. Elaborating on charges against Sopta, General Shinseki said in his letter to Jelavic and Budimir that the former commander of the First Military Guard had been cautioned previously but nevertheless on September 10, he appeared together with Jelavic at a pre-election gathering of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in Mostar. "Because of this blatant violation of the law, I requested that Sopta be immediately and permanently dismissed of his command and discharged from the armed forces", said Shinseki in his letter. The SFOR commander finally expressed hope that he would not be compelled to impose further sanctions against the Croatian Defence Council. (Hina) sp 041243 MET oct 98