REPORTS ON FIRST ARRESTS IN RELATION TO MOSTAR INCIDENT ENCOURAGIN

ENCOURAGIN $ G - MURPHY SARAJEVO, Feb 27 (Hina) - Spokesman for Bosnian peace coordinator Carl Bildt, Column Murphy, on Thursday said that reports on arrests of persons suspected of various criminal offences committed in the Mostar area were encouraging. "We welcome such information on the arrests of persons suspected of connections with the Mafia", Murphy told a press conference, adding that in this way Croatian authorities had made an important step in the right direction. New steps in that direction were expected, as well as a full implementation of recommendations from the report by the International Police Task Force (IPTF) on the Mostar events of 10 February, Murphy said. He pointed out that the report should in no way be turned into a political issue, since it referred only to the respecting of justice and law-enforcement, in which the joint goal should be full protection and promotion of internationally recognized norms and human rights. U.N. spokesman in Sarajevo Aleksandar Ivanko also called encouraging the reports on the arrest of a certain number of persons from the Mostar area, but pointed out that the IPTF had still not been officially notified about the arrests. (hina) ha jn 271434 MET feb 97