DEADLINE FOR DECISION ON STATUS OF BRCKO POSTPONED

SARAJEVO, Dec 9 (Hina) - A deadline for making a final decision on the territorial status of the strategic northeastern Bosnian town of Brcko has been officially postponed until February 15 next year, said a statement released in Sarajevo on Monday. The statement was signed by arbitration commission chairman Roberts Owen and arbitrator of the Bosnian Moslem-Croat Federation Cazim Sadikovic. The document was not signed by Bosnian Serb member of the commission Vitomir Popovic although it was the Serb side that had insisted on the postponement of the deadline. Colum Murphy, spokesman for the office of chief international peace coordinator Carl Bildt, said in Sarajevo on Monday that the Serb authorities at Pale had in the meantime pulled out of the arbitration process. Soon after the official announcement of withdrawal, several senior Serb officials made sharp statements warning that a new war may erupt in the Brcko area, he added. Brcko is situated in the narrowest part of the so-called Posavina corridor which links eastern and western parts of the Serb entity. Of its prewar population of 87,621, 44 percent were Moslems and 25.39 percent were Croats while Serbs accounted for a little more than 20 percent. The Dayton peace agreement provided for a special arbitration commission to decide to which of Bosnia-Herzegovina's two entities Brcko will belong. Owen is getting close to an idea that Brcko should be placed under long-term international administration, which would actually give the town an exterritorial status. (hina) vm mm 091545 MET dec 96