Soeharto's Bosnia visit raises expectations
Soeharto's Bosnia visit raises expectations
COPENHAGEN (Agencies): President Soeharto's plan to visit Sarajevo tomorrow is expected to contribute to the ongoing international effort to end the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas, who is accompanying the President on his current overseas tour, told reporters that Soeharto's visit to the Bosnian capital should at least help ease tension in the embattled country.
Soeharto, the current chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), plans to make a stopover of a few hours in Sarajevo to meet with Bosnian leaders tomorrow. He will be flown from Zagreb by a plane provided by the United Nations' peacekeeping force which has given its guarantee of his safety.
His entourage will include Alatas, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung and Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono.
The Indonesian President will fly to Zagreb today, winding up his four-day stay in Copenhagen for the World Conference on Social Development.
Alatas was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying that the Bosnian trip was discussed during his meeting with United Nations' Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali here on Friday.
He said there was nothing new in the discussion because Boutros-Ghali was already informed about the planned visit.
Soeharto is expected to help find a way out of the problems surrounding the presence of UN peacekeeping mission in Croatia when he meets with Croatian leaders in Zagreb, Alatas said.
The Croatian government, not wanting to be drawn into the Bosnian ethnic war, has set a March 31 deadline for all UN troops to leave the country.
Indonesian Ambassador for Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina R.M. Soelaeman Pringgodigdo told Antara in Zagreb on Friday that people in Sarajevo see the visit as a symbolic gesture that they have not been abandoned by "their friends".
"The visit will boost the morale of the Bosnian people, specially those in Sarajevo," he said quoting Bosnia-Herzegovina President Alija Izetbegovic. Soelaeman met Izetbegovic in Sarajevo last month when he presented his letters of credential.
He said Soeharto will be flown from Zagreb to Sarajevo aboard a Russian-built YAK-36 plane which is operated by the United Nations on Monday afternoon.
The commander of the UN force in Zagreb, Gen. Betrand Janvier, and the commander of the UN force in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gen. Rupert Smith, will accompany Soeharto on the flight to Sarajevo.
UN Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi will greet Soeharto at Sarajevo airport. Soeharto and Izetbegovic will hold talks at the Presidential Palace. Afterwards, Soeharto will tour the city to observe the destruction to infrastructure and buildings resulting from the four-year war. (emb)