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U.S. Ends Dispute, Delivers Arms to Bosnia Federation

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<i> From Times Wire Services</i>

The United States began handing over $100 million worth of military equipment to the Muslim-Croat federation on Thursday, ending its most serious dispute with Bosnia’s new leadership.

As workers began to unload wooden crates containing ammunition on the decks of the American Condor, U.S. special envoy James Pardew gave Ejup Ganic, the federation vice president, a certificate of ownership for the weapons, ammunition and other equipment.

“The delivery of this equipment is a powerful statement of the determination to fulfill President Clinton’s pledge to lead the international efforts to help the Bosnian federation exercise its right of self-defense,” Pardew told reporters aboard the ship.

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Behind him were about 80 armored personnel carriers. The shipment also includes tanks, small arms and other supplies.

Unloading at Ploce, a Croatian port 70 miles southwest of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, is to continue through the weekend.

The American Condor has been floating off Croatia for a month while U.S. officials, using the shipment as incentive, pressed the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina to sack Deputy Defense Minister Hasan Cengic, who is said to have close ties to Iran. This week, the government dismissed Cengic and Defense Minister Vladimir Soljic.

The future of the U.S.-led effort to strengthen the federation army had been in limbo. The $400-million program is intended to put the army on par with the Bosnian Serbs, who held a huge advantage in firepower.

Also Thursday, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia and the rump Yugoslavia, to demand that authorities recognize the results of local elections in Serbia.

The protesters are angry that the electoral commission annulled and called for reruns of Sunday’s local elections in several Serbian districts, mostly in places where the opposition claimed clear victory.

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