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Bosnia alleges

conspiracy on

foreign forces

SARAJEVO: Opponents of a U.S. effort to equip and train Bosnian Army troops are conspiring to block the programme by planting stories about assassination teams and Iranian troops, Bosnia's U.N. ambassador charged on Sunday.

"There are some who don't like (anybody to) "equip and train' within the region, within Europe and even within the United States," Muhamed Sacirbey told Reuters in Sarajevo.

"I think the issue in Bosnia is not so much age-old ethnic rivalries as it is European imperial rivalries that have now lasted for over a century."

Sacirbey, visibly angry, spoke after a spate of recent press accounts that alleged military and intelligence ties between Bosnia and Iran, and cited unnamed western officials.

The Dayton peace agreement which brought an end to 43 months of war in Bosnia late last year, required all foreign forces to depart the country in January.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in military training and assistance is on hold pending final confirmation that foreign forces have left.

The assistance has been organised by the United States and is intended to bring Bosnian government forces up to parity with other regional armies.

A New York Times story last week said five Bosnians arrested recently in Croatia were an Iranian-trained hit squad planning to assassinate renegade Moslem leader Fikret Abdic.

"There are no hit squads or Iranian troops or instructors here. This information is inaccurate," Sacirbey said.

"Why are these stories being spread? Bosnia is the primary U.S. relationship in the Balkans. It upsets some other relationships which have existed since before World War One."

"Unfortunatelty, I think some American officials blindly accept what is fed to them by people, groups and countries that are not inclined to see this U.S.-Bosnia relationship develop."

Britain, France and Russia, who have all been deeply involved in diplomatic efforts to resolve the Bosnian war and implement a secure peace, have made no secret of their opposition to the U.S. "equip and train" programme.

Where the U.S. believes that a balance of power and improved Bosnian government self-defence capability is the key to regional stability, critics say the proposed programme would only shovel more arms into Europe's tinderbox.-Reuter