IFOR REPORTS ON WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, April 15 (Hina) - IFOR officials in Sarajevo said on Monday that it still could not be said with certainty whether the Bosnian parties would withdraw their troops to barracks and collect heavy weapons by the April 19 deadline. A spokesman for NATO's Rapid Reaction Force, Lt. Col. Herman Beckman, told a press conference that all the three parties to the Bosnian conflict had a total of 301,000 troops. Beckman added that under the US-sponsored Dayton peace agreement about 150,000 regular troops were to be returned to barracks, while the rest, including reserve and paramilitary troops, should be demobilized. According to IFOR estimates, there were 750 to 800 tanks, 1,300 cannons, 145 multiple rocket launchers and about 3,500 mortars in Bosnia. All the weapons must be removed to a distance from the zones of separation between the Croat-Moslem federation and the Serb entity. IFOR troops were entitled to seize and destroy all weapons found outside determined weapons collection points after the deadline set by the Dayton agreement. (hina) ha mm 151434 MET apr 96