U.S. ENVOY URGES ESTABLISHMENT OF FREE MEDIA IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Oct 4 (Hina) - After his trip to Banja Luka, northwestern Bosnia, U.S. President's special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, came in Sarajevo on Saturday afternoon where he responded to journalists' question immediately after his arrival at the airport. Asked to comment on his meeting with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Friday, the U.S. diplomat said President Tudjman had given full support to the Dayton peace process and their joint efforts aimed at implementing the Erdut agreement in eastern Slavonia. The American said he hoped that conditions would enable the completion of the international community's mandate in the Croatian Danube river area in January 1998 as planned. President Tudjman and I were very concerned over some difficulties in our bilateral ties in recent months, but both of us hoped that things would improve, Gelbard said in Sarajevo. Speaking of his visit to Banja Luka, Gelbard described as very interesting his talks with the President of the Bosnian Serb entity, Biljana Plavsic. He and Plavsic discussed parliamentary elections and an idea about presidential elections in the Republic of Srpska as well as the media in light of the latest operation of the NATO- led Stabilisation Force when the Pale-based Bosnian Serb television was shut down. International standards for media must be respected, and we maintained that Pale television did not comply with those standards, Gelbard explained and added that the international community wanted a system of professional media to be established in the whole of Bosnia as the cornerstone of every democracy. He also told reporters that he would not surprise them if he said that his expectations were not so high regarding the surrender of war criminals such as former Bosnian Serbs leaders, Karadzic and General Mladic. Gelbard added that he would raise this issue during his talks with a Bosnian Presidency member, Momcilo Krajisnik, in Pale and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade. (hina) mš 041925 MET oct 97