BOSNIA PEACE PROCESS TO CONTINUE WITH OR WITHOUT SERBS - NATO

SARAJEVO, Feb 19 (Hina) - The Bosnian Serbs have refused to cooperate in the further implementation of the Dayton peace accord in Bosnia, but the peace process will continue with or without them, IFOR officials said on Monday after the Bosnian Serbs failed to attend a meeting of the joint military commission on the US aircraft carrier "George Washington" in the Adriatic Sea. The meeting had been called by the commander in chief of the NATO-led peace Implementation Force (IFOR), US Admiral Leighton Smith, with the aim of renewing cooperation between all Bosnian parties and IFOR in line with agreements reached at a two-day summit in Rome. The Bosnian Croat and Moslem sides were represented by Croatian Defence Council (HVO) chief of staff General Zivko Budimir and Bosnian Army chief of staff General Rasim Delic. The Bosnian Serb Republic refused to comply with the Dayton peace accord and the Rome agreements, an IFOR spokesman told a press conference aboard the ship, adding that Bosnian Serb leaders were trying to prevent the people of Bosnia from enjoying the benefits of peace. But regardless of their behaviour, NATO would continue to implement the Dayton agreement, with our without the Serbs, the spokesman said. The Bosnian Serb side was to have been represented by General Zdravko Tolimir, deputy of Bosnian Serb commander General Ratko Mladic. Admiral Smith described Tolimir's failure to show up as not a very wise move. He said that only one person was to be blamed for this, referring to Mladic who had ordered the suspension of cooperation between the Bosnian Serbs and IFOR. The high representative of the international community, Carl Bildt, warned that the refusal to cooperate would have consequences, stressing the possibility of denying economic aid without which no one could count on a political stability. Budimir said he was not surprised by Tolimir's absence because the Serbs had created similar problems in the past. Delic said that the obstruction of the peace process by the Serb side could be expected as long as Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Mladic had so much influence. Smith said that the chief prosecutor of the Hague-based interntional war crimes tribunal, Richard Goldstone, and UN human rights envoy Elizabeth Rhen were completely satisfied with the cooperation with NATO forces in Bosnia. He added that IFOR now had much more information about war crimes suspects. Smith dismissed as untrue reports that Karadzic had recently passed IFOR checkpoints unnoticed. Karadzic probably did not even try to pass through the zone of separation supervised by IFOR troops, he stressed. (hina) vm jn 192054 MET feb 96