U.S. EXPECTS BOSNIAN GOVT TO RELEASE POWS - SPOKESMAN

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Hina) - The United States said on Tuesday it expected Bosnian government to release all the prisoners it is holding and to accomplish the exchange of the prisoners of war to the end, before Secretary of State Warren Christopher visits the country next week. #L# The deadline expired last Friday midnight. The United States could not go ahead with the military equipment and training programs if the government failed to fulfill its obligations, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department Nicholas Burns said. He added that Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck held a "very serious discussion" on prisoners with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic on Tuesday and "left feeling that the Bosnian Government was headed in the right direction on this." But under questioning, the spokesman admitted that Shattuck did "not have an ironclad commitment" on the issue. Though most of the foreign "Mujahideen" fighters had left Bosnia through Croatia, Burns said Bosnian government was expected to fulfill that obligation too. "When (Christopher) travels to the Balkans late next week and into the following week he'll be making his point personally," he said. "And by then we expect that all prisoners will have been released and we expect that the Mujahideen and the foreign fighters will have left." (Hina) bk 232351 MET jan 96