SHALIKASHVILI MEETS BOSNIAN ARMY, HVO COMMANDERS IN SARAJEVO

SARAJEVO, April 25 (Hina) - The US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. John Shalikashvili, met in Sarajevo on Thursday with the commanders of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Bosnian Army, Gen. Zivko Budimir and Gen. Rasim Delic. Shalikashvili told a press conference after the talks that Budimir and Delic expressed full readiness for creating a joint army of the Croat-Moslem Federation. They were hoping that a political agreement on this would be reached very soon and they said that the creation of a joint army was necessary and unavoidable, the US general said. Shalikashvili said that it was too soon to talk about plans for IFOR's withdrawal from Bosnia-Herzegovina because there was still a lot of work to be done. Commenting on the presence of foreign troops in Bosnia, pariticularly Iranian volunteers, Shalikashvili said that at the moment they did not pose a direct threat to IFOR troops. If in our judgment we see that they do, we will deal with them very resolutely, he said. He stressed the a Dayton peace agreement requirement for pullout of all foriegn forces was still in effect. (hina) vm mm 251824 MET apr 96