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Bosnian Serbs Block Opening of Sarajevo Airport
Plans to begin commerical flights into
General Jean Heinrich said the NATO-led peace Implementation Force (IFOR), which currently controls Sarajevo airport, had removed fortifications around it and cleared mines littered by the former foes, thus making civilian flights possible. But he said the Serbs are putting the signing of an agreement between the country's government and IFOR on hold because they were unwilling to join Bosnia's Civilian Air Authority (CAA), already recognised by the International Civilian Air Organisation.
"For political reasons, not for technical reasons, the Serbs do not recognise the authority of the CAA. They say before the elections they cannot recognise the government and an official organisation," Heinrich told a news conference at Sarajevo airport. "As far as IFOR is concerned everything is ready to resume the (civilian) flights and to open the airport."
He explained that two conditions must be met before civilian flights start landing at the airport that during the 1992-95 war saw mainly heavy cargo planes bringing humanitarian aid to a besieged capital. IFOR must first receive written guarantees from Bosnia's entities -- the Serb Republic and Muslim-Croat federation -- that they will respect measures on control of air-defence systems and their storage at sites approved by IFOR, he said.
The area around the airport was a bitterly contested one throughout the 43-month-long war with warring parties often shooting at each other over the tarmac and around airport buildings controlled by U.N. peacekeepers.
The second issue that needs to be solved is the signing of an agreement by which the Bosnian government takes over legal liability for possible crashes, instead of IFOR. By refusing to recognise the authority of Bosnia's Muslim President Alija Izetbegovic, who would sign the contract, and refusing to join the CAA, Bosnian Serbs were effectively putting civilian flights on hold.
"We hope they will accept to participate in the CAA before the elections," Heinrich said. Elections aimed at reunifying Bosnia are to be held across the country on September 14 as prescribed by the 1995 Dayton peace treaty brokered by the United States. |
SARAJEVO, July 23 (Reuters) - A senior NATO commander accused separatist Bosnian Serbs on Tuesday of obstructing a resumption of civilian air traffic to Sarajevo for purely political reasons.
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