GOVERNMENTS SHOULD SEND WAR CRIMES SUSPECTS TO HAGUE, SMITH SAYS

SEGET DONJI, Jan 14 (Hina) - The commander of the IFOR and the NATO in Southern Europe, Admiral Leighton Smith visited the German- French field hospital at Seget Donji near Trogir, southern Croatian, on Sunday. After the two-hour visit to some 50 patients of the hospital and talks with hospital heads, Admiral Smith replied to reporters' questions at a helicopter air-field. He said that he was satisfied with what he had seen in the hospital and with the excellent cooperation between the hospital and Croatian authorities. Asked by reporters about the IFOR deployment in Bosnia Smith said that the presence of IFOR helped decrease terrorism in the country and foster cooperation between all the parties. Asked about a mandate of IFOR for arresting war criminals Karadzic and Mladic, Admiral Smith replied that they had no explicit task to search for and bring war criminals to the Hague Tribunal. Smith added that he could not openly speak about this issue. "Anyway, it depends on the situation and I think that governments of peoples whom suspects for war crimes belong, should extradite them to the Hague Tribunal." Smith said. (hina) mms 141434 MET jan 96