IFOR ENTERS BOSNIAN SERB MILITARY FACILITY IN HAN PIJESAK

SARAJEVO, August 13 (Hina) - Soldiers of the NATO-led Peace Implementation Force (IFOR) on Tuesday morning entered a Bosnian Serb military facility near Han Pijesak, after a resolute demand by NATO and IFOR officials on authorities in Pale. IFOR spokesman in Sarajevo Bratt Boudreau said that IFOR soldiers, led by the commander of the NATO ground force in Bosnia- Herzegovina, General Michael Walker, headed for Pale aboard four helicopters where they were joined by Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic and proceeded to Han Pijesak, one of the key command posts of the Bosnian Serbs' Army, where Ratko Mladic used to reside. Boudreau refused the possibility that IFOR soldiers tried to arrest Mladic on Saturday, pointing out that, just before the inspection attempt, Bosnian Serbs had been informed of IFOR's intentions. After his return to Sarajevo, General Walker would evaluate whether the inspection brought satisfactory results, while IFOR units remained on the alert (Operation "Fear Naught") since last week. The situation on the ground was relatively calm, said Boudreau. Following General Walker's recommendations, several hundreds IFOR soldiers and all U.N. staff, including international policemen, withdrew to IFOR headquarters in the Serb entity. Employees of the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), however, stayed in their offices in Pale and Banja Luka, and spokesman Chris Janowski said that only a branch office in Brcko was temporarily closed. The UNHCR staff was ordered to reduce movement only to the most necessary, while UNHCR-organized bus traffic between entities was stopped, with the exception of the Tuzla-Bjeljina route. (hina) ha rm 131413 MET aug 96