IFOR OPENS GUNJA-BRCKO BRIDGE

GUNJA, March 28 (Hina) - US Brigadier General James Patrick O'Neal on Thursday formally opened a reconstructed bridge over the Sava River connecting the eastern Croatian town of Gunja with the Bosnian town of Brcko. It took IFOR engineers 24 days to repair the 900-metre-long bridge that had been destroyed at several points during the war, IFOR spokesman Major Pat Tabacchi told reporters at the opening ceremony. The bridge, called "Bridge of Good Fortune" by IFOR troops, would be used by IFOR vehicles weighing up to 60 tonnes. In response to a journalist's question whether civilians would be allowed to use the bridge, Tabacchi said that it depended on international agreement between IFOR, Croatia, the Bosnian Moslem-Croat federation and Bonsian Serb officials, since Brcko was under Serb control. (hina) vm 281808 MET mar 96