B-H FEDERATION ARMY SOLDIERS TO ATTEND MILITARY TRAINING IN U.S.

SARAJEVO, Oct 23 (Hina) - The American Embassy in Sarajevo on Wednesday gave a reception to seven Bosnian Croat (HVO) and Bosnian Army officers who will attend the training in the U.S.A as of next month, within the IMET - international military education training - programme. Present at the reception were the Bosnian Federation Army commander, General Rasim Delic, and a U.S. special envoy in charge of military stability issues in the Balkans, James Pardew. Pardew said that U.S. Congress had granted US$ 200,000 for the training of the Bosnian Federation's soldiers in 1996. Next year the fund would rise to US$ 500,000 in order to train a greater number of the Bosnian Federation Army's members. Currently, the Federal Army soldiers are to be trained for engineering and transportation services, medical corps, and to have drills in English. The training is within the "train and equip" programme. Asked by journalists whether the U.S.A. offered to Bosnian Serb leaders cooperation in modernizing military troops, Pardew answered in the affirmative. "I mentioned that during the talks at Pale (Bosnian Serb stronghold), and Bosnian Serbs could join a programme such as "Equip and Train," he said. He added that there were some conditions on which the American side insisted, but which Bosnian Serbs did not accept. The Bosnian Serbs had been told that if they wanted to establish military cooperation with the United States, they had to recognize The Hague Court and accept the unification of all military forces in Bosnia into one force, which would be under the Defence ministry command. 'We want Bosnia-Herzegovina to be a serious country and serious countries have only one defence ministry', Pardew said. (hina) mš rm 231830 MET oct 96