SPECIAL POLICE REORGANIZATION DEADLINES MUST BE COMPLIED WITH - IVANKO

COMPLIED WITH - IVANKO $ SARAJEVO, Aug 11 (Hina) - Members of the International Police Task Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina as of today no longer supervise the activities of special police units of the two (Croat-Moslem, Serb) entities, UN spokesman in Sarajevo Aleksandar Ivanko said on Monday, adding this task was now to be performed by the Stabilization Force. According to a decision of NATO superiors, special police units would be regarded as part of military forces and would as such be under strict supervision of the Stabilization Force, the UN spokesman said. Authorities in the BH Federation and Republika Srpska had to agree with the IPTF on how to restructure special police units by 31 August, Ivanko added. We have started with the inspection of bases holding special police units, SFOR spokesman John Blakeley said today. NATO in BH would for the moment, according to Blakeley, limit its activity to explaining the new directions SFOR commander General Eric Shinseki issued to commanders of special police units. Shinseki discussed the matter with Bosnian Serb representative Momcilo Krajisnik in Pale yesterday, Blakeley said, adding the enforcement of the new supervision measures would be adjusted at a joint military commission meeting on Friday. UN spokesman Ivanko said IPTF officials were included in delicate negotiations on police restructuring in the Bosnian Serb entity, but, as he pointed out, they did not negotiate with Interior Ministry officials, nor + Interior Minister Dragan Kijac, recalled by a decision of Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic. "We are holding talks exclusively with high officials in Banja Luka and Pale, and with police representatives only as far as heads of police stations are concerned", said Ivanko. There are about 20,000 policemen in Republika Srpska according to IPTF estimates, and 2,000-3,000 of them belong to special units, of which the biggest is believed to be an anti-terrorist brigade in Rakovicke Bare near Banja Luka. The aim of special police restructuring, according to Ivanko, was not to reduce the protection of Serb officials, at least not of those lawfully elected. The UN spokesman confirmed the new directions on the activities of the special police included the supervision of secret police services, such as the Investigation and Documentation Agency, but the latter's reorganization was, as Ivanko pointed out, not a task of the IPTF, but of federal partners, in line with last week's agreement between Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and BH Presidency chairman Alija Izetbegovic. (hina) ha 111423 MET aug 97