Dispute Holds Up U.S. Arms Aid to Bosnia

The Clinton administration said Thursday that a shipment of tanks, helicopters and other weapons intended for Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat federation will not be turned over as long as an official with close ties to Iran remains a senior official in the Bosnian Defense Ministry.

The dispute over Deputy Defense Minister Hasan Cengic was the latest obstacle to the U.S. “equip and train” program aimed at upgrading the federation’s armed forces to the level of the rival Bosnian Serb military.

An administration official predicted that Cengic will resign soon to allow the federation to receive the weapons, which arrived Thursday at the Croatian port of Ploce. The delivery was the second under the $100-million program. An earlier shipment has already been turned over to the federation.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said the equipment will be held in storage under guard by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led peacekeeping force until “some remaining issues of concern to the United States are resolved on a satisfactory basis by the Bosnian government.”

Burns declined to spell out the issues, but other officials said Cengic’s position was the most pressing.

The U.S. government offered the “equip and train” program during last year’s peace talks in Dayton, Ohio, to reassure the Muslims and Croats that they would not be overwhelmed by the better-armed Bosnian Serbs. Under the agreement, the weapons and training will be provided only if the Muslims and Croats, once bitter enemies, effectively merge their armed forces.

The program has been plagued by difficulty from the start. The initial shipment of arms was delayed for months awaiting the federation parliament’s enactment of a basic defense law merging the separate Muslim and Croat military forces. Ultimately, the United States accepted a measure that stopped well short of its objectives, allowing the Muslims and Croats to maintain separate units under a joint Defense Ministry and general staff.

Officials indicated that a compromise was possible on the latest issues provided Cengic resigns.