CONTACT GROUP SUBMITS PROPOSAL TO BOSNIAN REPRESENTATIVES

GENEVA, July 6 (Hina) - The Contact Group on Wednesday submitted a proposal for the territorial arrangement of Bosnia-Herzegovina, complete with map, to Alija Izetbegovic, Kresimir Zubak, Ejup Ganic and Haris Silajdzic as representatives of the Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina. The meeting between Contact Group members and the representatives of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina took place at the Russian embassy in Geneva under the chairmanship of US Ambassador Charles Redman. Redman stressed that the guarantees to the sides, particularly clauses relative to the military involvement of the international community, needed further elaboration. The proposal exempts Sarajevo from territorial division for a period of two years, during which it will be under UN protectorate. After that, two thirds of Sarajevo will be assigned to the Federation and one third to the Bosnian Serbs. The northern-Bosnian town of Brcko would have the status of a demilitarised area. Although the town itself would be assigned to the Federation, the "corridor" road that runs through it, connecting the Serb-controlled areas, would be under international supervision. Bosnian Posavina (the Sava River valley in northern Bosnia) would go to the Federation, except for the Serb corridor, up to five km wide. Kresimir Zubak described the corridor as a "poor solution, but less so than others that have been proposed." The corridor would be crossed by roads linking the territories belonging to the Federation (Derventa and Doboj, Gradacac, Modrica and Odzak, Gradacac and Bosanski Samac). In western Bosnia, the Federation would include Jajce and the area as far west as Kljuc, as well as the Bihac-Jajce road. The towns of Prijedor and Teslic would go to the Bosnian Serbs. The solution for eastern Bosnia seems the least favourable to the Federation. The areas of Srebrenica, Zepa and the part of Visegrad on the western bank of the Drina, with a majority Moslem population, would go to the Federation, while Foca, Zvornik, Vlasenica and Rogatica would remain under Serb control. Bosnian Premier Haris Silajdzic registered displeasure with this point of the plan. Answering Silajdzic's objection, US Ambassador Redman reiterated the stance that the international community considered integral Bosnia-Herzegovina as the only solution, meaning that internal boundaries were not as important as was universally supposed. The Contact Group expects the Federation and the Bosnian Serbs to give their answers by July 20. 061509 MET jul 94