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Bosnia aid donors dig deep to meet target

BRUSSELS: Ministers from 55 nations met on Saturday aiming to come up with $1.2 billion in economic aid for Bosnia, but with signs that last minute extra generosity might be necessary to hit the target.

"I am hopeful that we will be able to gather sufficient funds to cover the needs for this year for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Bosnia despite the number of political difficulties that we have," European Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek said as he arrived.

The conference, which follows one last December that raised $600 million, has been overshadowed by the refusal of the Bosnian Serbs to participate.

This has left donor nations uncomfortably torn between wanting to be seen to be fair but anxious to send a signal to Serb moderates that they had to oust hardline leader Radovan Karadzic and army commander Ratko Mladic in order to get reconstruction aid.

In a sign that the first, unofficial, passing round of the hat on Friday had failed to produce the $1.2 billion that the European Commission and the World Bank have said was necessary for the rest of this year, Van den Broek said everything would depend on what the ministers said.

"I hope we can meet the target that has been set for the conference which is $1 billion or maybe even somewhat more...But we will have to wait and see," he said.

Carl Bildt, the man charged with coordinating the civilian side of the Bosnian peace, was uncompromising in his speech to the conference.

"The fact that Karadic and Mladic are still trying to hang on to public office is particularly provocative -- and can not be tolerated for long. At a point, measures beyond those announced so far will be taken," he said.

"We must be as firm today as we were yesterday on the link that there is between the full respect for the peace agreement and the economic aid we are ready to give."

Bosnian Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic pressed the urgency for quick aid, particularly for housing, and promised his government would be even handed when dealing with the Serbs.

"In the course of reconstruction my government will treat both entities equally and allocate funds for reconstruction according to level of damage and needs," he told the meeting.

The World Bank has calculated that a total of $5.1 billion will be needed over the next four years to begin rebuilding the devastated country, with $3.7 billion earmarked for the Moslem-Croat Federation and $1.4 billion for the Serb Republika Srpska.

"For peace in Bosnia to succeed it is also essential that the civilian part of the agreement succeeds," U.S. Ambassador William Montgomery said on Friday.

Diplomats say privately that little money will actually reach Republika Srpska until it complies with the peace deal's terms which requires the Bosnian Serbs hand over indicted war criminals like Karadzic and Mladic.

Diplomats indicated they may have to put pressure on their former patron, Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic, to flex his muscle yet again to remove Karadzic.

Bildt said funds would reach the Bosnian Serb people but would circumvent Karadzic and his associates.

Efforts to restore water supplies and rebuild roads, houses and bridges are threatened by the presence of unexploded mines strewn across the country.

"There are more mines than people in Bosnia," World Bank spokesman Tim Cullen said on Friday. "It is a tremendous obstacle."

Bildt said rebuilding Bosnia's infrastructure and economy was imperative so that millions of people need not depend on foreign tax-payers for too long.-Reuter