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)