Confirmation on Bosnia peace talks needed: Alatas

JAKARTA (JP): Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said yesterday reconfirmation was needed before a peace conference on the former Yugoslavia could be held here.

"Every day there is a new development (in the territory of the former Yugoslavia), so every time there needs to be a reconfirmation about when the meeting could take place," Alatas told journalists.

He said that Indonesia's proposal to help facilitate a peaceful solution to the conflict had been submitted and that now it was up to the leaders involved to decide whether they wanted to follow up the proposal.

"Bapak (Mr.) President's proposal is on the table. They know about it, they have agreed to it in principal. However, we will have to see about the implementation," Alatas remarked.

Alatas was responding to recent reports that senior Bosnian, Serb and Croatian officials had denied knowledge of a planned Indonesian-facilitated peace conference, involving leaders of the three warring factions in what used to be the Republic of Yugoslavia.

United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Madeline Albright said last Friday, during a Worldnet interview beamed from Washington, that, like representatives of the Balkan groups quoted by reports, she was unaware of any acceptance of the Indonesian proposal.

During a brief stopover in Sarajevo and Zagreb earlier this year Soeharto, in his capacity as chairman of the 111-member Non- Aligned Movement, proposed that the warring sides sit down and discuss the problem.

That meeting, Soeharto said, would be followed by an international peace conference. The President said that Indonesia would be willing to facilitate both of the meetings if requested to do so.

Last week President Soeharto's special envoy to the former Yugoslavia, Nana Sutresna, announced that Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, Croatian President F. Tudjman and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had agreed to attend a peace conference in Indonesia.

Nana said the choice of venue had been chosen by the three presidents themselves.

Nana has made no less than three trips to the war-torn area, meeting with and briefing leaders there on Soeharto's proposal for a comprehensive solution to the crisis.

According to Alatas, Nana's statement last week did not mean to imply that a peace conference would be held in the near future.

Alatas blamed press reports for over-interpreting Nana's statement.

He added that Nana was continuing his tour in an attempt to gain more input on the matter. Nana is currently on a visit to the United Nations Secretariat in New York.

Alatas stressed that it was the prerogative of the leaders involved in the conflict to make the effort and take the initiative to exploit the opportunity which Indonesia was offering them.

"Its up to them, because the main thing is we have offered (to facilitate). It's up to the leaders themselves -- whether they would like to use this opportunity or not," the minister said.

He noted that there were other peace proposals which the Balkan leaders might prefer to Indonesia's, such as those made by the United States and by Russia.

"They all head in the same general direction," he added. (mds)