IFOR PREPARES PLAN FOR DEPLOYMENT IN MOSTAR

SARAJEVO, Aug 5 (Hina) - Representatives of international organizations in charge of implementation of the peace agreement in Bosnia on Monday warned that the Mostar crisis represented a serious challenge to the implementation of the Dayton Agreement and that the international community would not allow the peace process to be threatened in this way. IFOR spokesman Bratt Boudreau described the crisis in Mostar as the most serious example of disrespect of the Dayton Agreement on the part of Bosnian Croats. He confirmed that IFOR was ready to fulfill any task, even preventing any kind of military activities which might jeopardize peace. #L# The plans for deploying NATO troops in Mostar existed for some time now and a decision for their implementation was impending, Boudreau said. All necessary support will be given to the international police which should enter Mostar if the European Union decided to withdraw from this city. International Police Task Force (IPTF) commissioner in Bosnia- Herzegovina Peter Fitzgerald said on Monday that 40 police officers had been deployed in Mostar already. Carl Bildt's Office spokesman Colum Murphy said that the Mostar case was an important indicator to all who wanted to hinder the implementation of the peace agreement that the international community would not allow coercion. It would especially not be allowed at the upcoming elections in September, Murphy said, stressing that Bildt's Office wished this to be a clear message both to Zagreb and Belgrade. Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Mostar (OSCE) on Monday issued a statement which said that it had again called the European Union and both sides in Mostar to urgently resolve the present crisis and recalled that the Temporary Electoral Commission for Bosnia had decreed the Mostar elections as valid on 8 July and that it considered them as an integral part of the general elections which are to take place in September. (hina) lm mm 051535 MET aug 96