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Bosnia, Croatia, Yugoslavia Close to Arms Deal
By Steve Pagani
VIENNA, June 5 (Reuters) - Bosnia, Croatia and rump Yugoslavia are close to agreeing a weapons reduction deal, bringing to an end six months of arms control negotiations, an official close to the talks said on Tuesday. Mediated by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the talks seek to establish a quota on the number of tanks, combat aircraft and artillery for each country as well as the former warring parties within Bosnia.
"The chairman says we are going to have an agreement by the 6th (of June)," the official said. "It's looking pretty
good." Croatia, rump Yugoslavia comprising Serbia and Montenegro, the Bosnian government, the Bosnian-Croat federation and the Bosnian Serbs are each represented at the arms negotiations.
The Dayton peting in Bosnia, required that an arms limitation deal be concluded by June 6, 1996, to try to reduce
the risk of any fresh war in the Balkans. The document would probably be initialled by negotiators in Vienna and formally signed b either foreign or defence ministers in Oslo on June 11.
An arms accord inegotiations, OSCE officials acknowledge, have at times been difficult because of sensitivity over what were, less than a year ago, military secrets.
One diplomatic source said the last hurdle appeared to be political rather than any snag with the arms control deal, and focused on how the Bosnian Serb entity should be referred to in official documents. The Dayton agreement identifies the territory assigned to the Bosnian Serbs in some texts as 'Republika Srpska'. The Bosnian Muslim-led government has opposed the use of the name to prevent the Serbs from regarding their territory as a separate state instead of a part of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The Vienna arms accord would also establish a regime of arms inspections with teams comprised of representatives of each faction together with OSCE officials.
Belgrade has raised objections to OSCE involvement in the inspections teams because the European security body suspended rump Yugoslavia as one of the punitive measures used against the state for provoking war as the former Yugoslavia began to disintegrate, a diplomatic source said.
"Russia has been pressing for (rump) Yugoslavia to be reintegrated, but other governments, notably the United States, think it's premature," the source said.
Among other issues, Washington wants assurances from Belgrade that it would respect human rights in its southern region of Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians make up the bulk of the population, the source added.
A separate series of post-Dayton talks in Vienna on confidence-building measures concluded on January 26 with an agreement by the three Bosnian factions on mutual inspections of weapons sites, troops and arms factories. "These inspections have been taking place, they have been low key but people are very happy with them," the OSCE official said. |
OSCE in Bosnia
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