SPLIT IN FEDERAL ARMY CRO COMPONENT UNLIKELY TO RENEW CONFLICT - SFOR

SARAJEVO, March 22 (Hina) - A rift inside the Croat component of the federal army in Bosnia-Herzegovina is far from being possible to lead to the renewal of the conflict and the recurrence of the scenario which caused the war, as this will be prevented by 20,000 NATO soldiers who are keeping peace in Bosnia, British General Richard Dannatt, the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) deputy commander, said in Sarajevo on Thursday. There is a huge difference between what is going on today and what took place in Bosnia in 1992, the Briton said at a news conference he convened to express the official stands of SFOR in relation to the problems in the army of the Croat-Moslem Federation, caused by announcements about the proclamation of the so-called Croat self- rule in the Bosnian areas populated mainly by Croats. At least 66 high-ranking officers of the Croat component have so far expressed disloyalty to the newly-appointed federal defence minister, Mijo Anic, and General Ivo Lozanicic who has recently been named as the deputy commander of the federal army and thereby is the helm of the Croat component. The high-ranking officers led by the commander of the Federation's First Guards Corps General Zlatan Mijo Jelic, expressed support to political moves of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), directed against the new authorities in the Bosnian Federation. SFOR Deputy Commander Dannatt told reporters that legally appointed officials of the defence ministry and the federal army enjoyed the full support of the NATO-led SFOR. Minister Anic gave a deadline which would expire at the end of this week to all professional employees with the federal army to come back to their job and thus show their loyalty to new authorities, or their employment contracts would be terminated. To date there has been no precise indicator how many HVO (Bosnian Croat) member in the army are backing the HDZ BiH and how many are loyal to the legal authorities. Gen. Jelic claimed that at least 80 percent of officers and soldiers did not want to obey orders from Sarajevo. However, the "Slobodna Bosna" weekly, said that HVO troops in central Bosnia and Posavina (the right valley of the Sava river), led by Brigadiers Dusko Grubisic and Ivo Matanovic, had not sided with anyone so far. On behalf of SFOR, Dannatt called on all Croat officers and soldiers to support Anic and Lozancic and thus the re-organisation of armed forces in the country. British General said any attempt to set up parallel bodies of authority inside the Federation would be treated as the direct threat to the Dayton peace accords. We are controlling all arms depots and we are going to react resolutely to any attempt of the transfer of weapons, he added. SFOR called on the HDZ BiH and all who masterminded the Croat National Assembly to stop manipulating soldiers and let them do their job professionally. Gen. Dannatt said politicians who urged disloyalty and retired generals who pretended to be protectors of national interests owed answers to many questions such as who were all persons who received money from the federal budget's section intended to the defence and where the documentation on those activities disappeared. (hina) ms