PARDEW ON IMPORTANCE OF U.S. ARMS DELIVERY FOR BOSNIAN FEDERATION

PLOCE, Nov 21 (Hina) - A news conference for Croatian and foreign journalists was held on Thursday afternoon aboard the U.S. "American Condor" that had sailed into the Croatian port of Ploce on Thursday morning transporting U.S. military assistance for the armed force of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. U.S. special envoy for the military stability in the Balkans, James Pardew, spoke about the significance of the American arms delivery, worth 100 million dollars, for the armed force of the Croat-Moslem Federation. We marked a milestone today in the strengthening of the Bosnian Federation armed force. During the war the Federation forces had not been able to import heavy weapons for appropriate defence. The American ship was carrying 45 tanks and 80 armoured carriers aimed to remove that drawback. The ship was also transporting great quantity of other arms and military equipment for the "Equip and Train" programme, which more than 160 American civilian experts were carrying out to drill the Bosnian Federation army, Pardew said. U.S. President Bill Clinton supported the arms delivery aimed to the self-defence of the Bosnian Federation, said Pardew handing over a list of weapons and equipment to the Federation Vice President Ejup Ganic. Croatia's Defence Minister Gojko Susak and Bosnian Federation Vice President Ganic stressed the great importance of the U.S. military assistance in establishing and training the joint federal armed force and in creating the military balance between the two entities (the Croat-Moslem Federation, and the Serb entity) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The unloading of the ship cargo, that began at about 04:00 p.m. on Thursday, is scheduled to finish by November 24. The cargo will be transported to storehouses in central and southern parts of the Bosnian Federation. (hina) mš 211809 MET nov 96