WESTENDORP SEEKS SUPPORT FOR IMPLEMENTING HIS MANDATE

( Editorial: --> 7016 ) BONN, Dec 9 (Hina) - International High Representative to Bosnia- Herzegovina Carlos Westendorp on Tuesday requested support from the Peace Implementation Council for strengthening his mandate to ensure more efficient implementation of the Dayton peace agreement. Westendorp told the council, which met in Bonn for a two-day conference, he was not seeking a revised mandate but full support in the more resolute exercise of his existing mandate to remove obstacles to the implementation of the peace accord. He said he intended to call and chair meetings of joint institutions, pass provisional decisions when the parties fail to reach consensus, suspend laws not conforming to the Dayton accord and take other measures to ensure implementation of the peace agreement in the country's two entities. Those measures could include dismissal of officials not attending meetings without justification or persistently opposing implementation of the peace agreement. Westendorp stressed that an international military presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina after June next year was necessary. NATO Secretary General Javier Solana said NATO would consider all options for a possible continuation of its military mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina after the expiry of the SFOR mandate in June 1998. (hina) vm mm 091517 MET dec 97