Bosnian Serb authorities have done 'enough' on arms-to-Iraq scandal: FM

SARAJEVO (AFP) Mar 28, 2003
Bosnian Serb authorities have done "enough" to punish those responsible for the arms sales to Iraq by a state-owned company in violation of a UN arms embargo, Bosnian Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic said Friday.

"I think that a lot has been done in the RS (Republika Srpska, the Serb part of Bosnia) regarding political responsibility," for the refurbishing of Iraqi aircraft and sale of spare parts by the Bosnian Serb military firm Orao in violation of a UN arms embargo, Ivanic told reporters.

Seventeen Bosnian Serb officials have been charged over the Orao case so far, including Orao managers and four high ranking military officials.

Chief of staff General Momir Zec has been dismissed after being indicted for covering up evidence in the investigation.

Asked to comment on rumours that the international High Representative to Bosnia is considering dismissing Mirko Sarovic, the Serb member of the country's joint presidency, over the scandal, Ivanic said that such a move would harm the country's dignity.

Sarovic's dismissal "would not just be an act against one political party, one nation, one entity, but it would be an act against the dignity of Bosnian institutions," Ivanic said.

A Western diplomat told AFP Thursday on the condition of anonymity that High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, is "seriously considering" dismissing Sarovic over the Orao affair.

The High Representative's mandate enables him to sack any Bosnian official if they fail to apply the Dayton Peace agreement that ended the 1992-95 war by spliting the country into the largely autonomous Republika Srpska and Muslim-Croat Federation.

Sarovic was Bosnian Serb president and commander in chief of the military from 2000 to 2002, the period in which the refurbishment of aircraft and sales of parts took place.

According to Ivanic, former Bosnian Serb prime minister, "even opening of a discussion about dismissals is undermining the authority of Bosnian institutions, especially if such a discusssion is not based on evidence of concrete activities."

Orao was discovered last September to be violating UN embargo on Iraq.

RS authorities forwarded an additional report on the case to NATO-led peacekeepers (SFOR) here last week after SFOR said it was dissatisfied with the previous report, claiming that it failed to address the political responsiblity of the RS authorities.

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