1998 - YEAR OF PLEASANT SURPRISES IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - INTERNATIONAL REPS

INTERNATIONAL REPS ( Editorial: --> 9711 ) SARAJEVO, 21 Dec (Hina) - This year's most precious Christmas present for Bosnia-Herzegovina comes from Washington. The decision of U.S. President Bill Clinton for U.S. troops to stay in the peace mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina after June next year was not unexpected, but the explanation which accompanied the decision was certainly more than the continuation of accepted commitments. Clinton said that U.S. soldiers would stay in Bosnia without the limitation of the mandate and that they would not allow the division of the country. They would also remain there until the state, created in Dayton, really started to function, he said. Clinton's visit to Sarajevo and Tuzla is certainly to confirm his message. One should not doubt that the visit of the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl would bear a similar message. Kohl is to visit the Bosnian capital a day after Clinton's visit. The sentence which has been repeated regularly by representatives of international organisations in Bosnia - that Dayton has no alternative - has been confirmed in practice. However, the statement is only a framework which is yet to be filled with content. Before his departure from Sarajevo, former head of the Mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Robert Frowick, warned that there can be no lasting peace nor reconciliation as long as war crimes suspects are not only walking freely but maintaining strong political influence. The Bosniak and Croat sides have shown a high degree of cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, while Bosnian Serbs have done almost nothing in that area, he said. The man who governs from shadow, as Frowick calls Radovan Karadzic, is back again in the limelight. Frowick called on Karadzic to give up his influence for the benefit of his own people. The message was sent to Pale several hours after the arrest of Bosnian Croats Vlatko Kupreskic and Anto Furundzija by Stabilisation Force (SFOR) troops in Vitez. SFOR spokesman in Sarajevo, Peter Clark, stated for the first time that NATO command in Bosnia-Herzegovina identifies suspects and then plans their arrest. Our message to suspects is to turn themselves in. If they don't do it they run the risk of SFOR knocking at their door in the middle of the night, Clark said. Following the operation of Dutch SFOR troops in Vitez, Paris may now be the one to act, that is, 3,500 French soldiers in Bosnia. The French SFOR sector includes the Serb stronghold of Pale. Another outgoing diplomat, the head of the U.N. Mission in Bosnia- Herzegovina, Kai Eide, said in his farewell speech in Banja Luka several days ago he was sure that the year 1988 would be a year of pleasant surprises in Bosnia. (hina) mm rm 211302 MET dec 97