OSCE OFFICIAL ON LATEST ATTACKS AT SFOR IN MOSTAR

MOSTAR, Feb 22 (Hina) - The command of the International Police Task Force in the Mostar area, on late Saturday afternoon said that an investigation of this morning's and Friday predawn's attacks against SFOR armoured personnel carriers in the central city zone of Mostar was still under way. The director of the Mostar regional office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Edward Joseph, said on Saturday that he was very concerned about those attacks at the SFOR armoured vehicles in the central city zone. Joseph described the attacks as madness and a very serious challenge. He added that all parties had so far respected NATO. According to Joseph, the situation in the city had been more complex following the latest Mostar incidents. It would make more difficult a discussion on a possible holding of local elections in Mostar. He added that decisions on Mostar must be fully implemented, which were made in Sarajevo on February 12 by senior officials of Bosnia's Croat and Bosniak (Moslem) peoples with mediation of Michael Steiner, a deputy to the High Representative, and that it was necessary to implement results of the last elections in Mostar as well. Only after that a temporary electoral commission would take a final decision whether local elections would be held in Mostar in July this year, Joseph said. He portrayed as a serious problem the fact that police of western Mostar did not join the joint police. (hina) mš 221844 MET feb 97