FINAL DESTINATION OF BOSNIAN WEAPONS CAMEROON NOT ISRAEL

SARAJEVO, May 21 (Hina) - Bosnian Federation Defence Minister Mijo Anic and his deputy Ferid Buljubasic on Tuesday adamantly refuted claims that stocks of weapons belonging to the federal army were recently sold to Israel. #L# At a press conference convened to respond to recent speculation about the suspicious trade with Israel, Minister Anic categorically claimed the buyer of the weapons was Cameroon and not the Jewish state. "The weapons were sold to Cameroon and the Israeli 'Soltan' company only acted as a mediator in this deal", the federal defence minister said. "We now have 12,700 pieces of various heavy weaponry, and at the end of decreasing this number we will need only 270 pieces", Anic said. The Defence Ministry received an order by NATO's Stabilisation Force (SFOR) that by November 1 it should destroy or sell all its weapons believed to be redundant. That weaponry was donated to Bosnia and Herzegovina by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Later it was discovered that the weapons were produced back in 1964 and its maintenance was just too expensive and irrational. Based on a decision by the Federation's government, the Defence Ministry advertised an international tender to sell the weapons, given that there were no limitations set when the weapons were donated for its further use or sale. Deputy Minister Buljubasic explained that only the US government obliged the Bosnian Federation to obtain approval before destroying or selling any donated weapons or equipment. The Cameroon weapons affair was launched in the media inclined towards the Party for Democratic Action (SDA) with an attempt to spread the belief that the ruling Alliance for Democratic Changes, led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), had sold the weapons donated by Arab states to Israel and that it was now being used to terrorise Palestinians. (hina) sp sb