SARAJEVO, July 18 (Hina) - During his visit to Sarajevo on Friday, NATO main commander in Europe, US General Wesley Clark, expressed concern about the slow implementation of the civilian part of the Dayton Agreement and called on
sides in Bosnia-Herzegovina to fully implement their commitments from Dayton.
SARAJEVO, July 18 (Hina) - During his visit to Sarajevo on Friday, NATO
main commander in Europe, US General Wesley Clark, expressed concern
about the slow implementation of the civilian part of the Dayton
Agreement and called on sides in Bosnia-Herzegovina to fully implement
their commitments from Dayton. #L#
I am disappointed about the fact that the civilian part of the
Dayton Agreement is not being implemented with the same speed and
determination as the military part had been, Clark told a press
conference after a meeting with members of the Bosnian Presidency Alija
Izetbegovic, Kresimir Zubak, SFOR commanders and representatives of
international organisations in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The third (Bosnian Serb) member of the Bosnian Presidency, Momcilo
Krajisnik, did not show up for the meeting with General Clark, although
he had been invited, nor had he forwarded any excuse.
Clark, who had assumed the duty of NATO commander for Europe,
succeeding General Joulwan seven days ago, stressed on Friday that the
Dayton Agreement remained the only framework for permanent peace in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, adding that it was necessary to implement it fully.
Commenting on the action to apprehend war crimes suspects which had
been undertaken by SFOR troops in Prijedor recently, Clark said it had
been fully compliant with the existing Stabilisation Force mandate, and
that it had not been changed.
There was no doubt that extremists and criminal elements were
obstructing Dayton and the action we had taken had definitely had effect
on persons such as Karadzic and Mladic. They were certainly not sleeping
peacefully any longer, he said, but refused to answer questions about
possible new SFOR actions to that effect, adding that it would be
speculation.
Clark did not express deep concern over incidents with SFOR members
as targets of various assaults and threats.
Such incidents should not produce too strong conclusions because
there was proof that some of them had not been politically motivated,
Clark said, adding that the SFOR command estimated that the situation in
the field was calming down.
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