 |
NATO’s Solana on Weekend Diplomacy Shuttle in Serbia and Bosnia
By Sabina Cosic
SARAJEVO, June 15 (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Javier Solana said on Saturday the alliance would do its best to make a success of controversial Bosnian elections after international mediators scheduled the polls for mid-September. "We are going to do our best within our abilities so that the elections are prepared and are a success," he told reporters in Sarajevo after meeting Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic.
Solana, accompanied by NATO's supreme allied commander General George Joulwan and NATO commander in Bosnia Admiral Leighton Smith, arrived in the Bosnian capital from Zagreb. "We are approaching the mid-term of our mission. On Monday it will be D+180 and we wanted to evaluate in theatre how things were going and to prepare the second phase." D designates the date of the first deployment of NATO-led peace implementation force in Bosnia last December days after the Dayton peace accord was signed in Paris.
Solana's tour follows Friday's conference of mediators and the Bosnian sides in Florence which reviewed the Dayton peace process after six months. The conference recommended elections for multi-ethnic institutions should take place on September 14, despite widespread human rights abuses and violations of the Dayton accord.
But Washington and its allies argued it was better to hold faulty elections than none at all because any delay would help separatists partition the country. Solana said NATO will provide security in Bosnia for the elections. "We are going to continue guaranteeing the freedom of movement for everybody with the exception of those who do not deserve that," he said referring to indicted war criminals.
Izetbegovic said he wished that the civilian aspects of the Dayton accord were carried out in the next six months with the same efficiency shown by NATO in the first half of the year. The military aspects of the Dayton accord, including the returning of soldiers to barracks and scaling down of armies to peace-time level, has been carried without major problems. But the civilian issues in the peace accord which ended the bitter 43-month war last Decemer lag behind.
The peace deal guarantees the right of refugees to return to their homes and freedom of movement but in practice this has been ingored by various local nationalist authorities who closed their borders to preserve pure ethnic entities.
Izetbegovic said the talks also focused on opening railway lines from the Croatian port of Ploce and from Maglaj in the north to Sarajevo and the return of Sarajevo airport to Bosnian government control. |
Berserkistan, June 14 · Florence Consensus: Elections and Arrests
Berserkistan, June 14 · Elusive Balkan Arms Pact Signed at Florence
Berserkistan, June 14 · Karadzic May Run for Office
Berserkistan, June 14 · Some 60 Political Parties Register for September Vote
Berserkistan is a world news service of Michael Linder Productions, Inc.
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved