The New NATO: Alliance spreads eastward from the Atlantic to welcome ol d foes

Supreme commander warns Bosnia's warring factions

As the Nato summit in Madrid drew to a close yesterday, Nato's supreme commander issued the sternest warning yet to the former warring factions in Bosnia. He told opponents of the elected Bosnian Serb President, Biljana Plavsic, not to "miscalculate" and attempt to unseat her.

And he said that although he had not received orders to go in and arrest indicted war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, he would do so as soon as they came through.

The comments, by US General George Joulwan, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, suggest that a change in the Nato-led stabilisation force's (S- For) mandate will happen soon.

He reiterated that S-Forpersonnel are under orders to arrest wanted men if it stumbles on them in the course of its other duties - which it never has.

President Bill Clinton said that if military commanders in Bosnia feel "the risk is appropriate" they have a clear mandate to arrest war criminals.

He reaffirmed the Nato mandate to arrest criminals under the Dayton accords but stopped short of saying whether he would bless a paramilitary operation to round up Mr Karadzic and others accused of such crimes.

"Clearly our mandate is to arrest people who have been accused of war crimes and turn them over for trial if that can be done in the course of fulfilling their other duties, and if the commanders feel the risk is appropriate," Mr Clinton said.

He criticised the Bosnian Serb leader's efforts to oust Mrs Plavsic. "We support Mrs Plavsic and what she's trying to do. We oppose the unconstitutional efforts to restrict her authority."

Last week, Bosnian Serb television reported that new orders had been given to go and arrest war criminals, which Nato and S-For denied.

"I have received no instructions to conduct such an operation. It is the responsibility of the [local] parties to bring these war criminals to justice," General Joulwan said.

Pressed as to whether S-For was about to go and get them, he said: "Let me get the guidance first."

Yesterday, Britain and Spain went some way to patching up the dispute over Gibraltar that erupted at the summit on Tuesday. Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, and his counterpart, Abel Matutes, agreed that their countries' Nato ambassadors would discuss the "practicalities" of resolving disputes over Gibraltar, chiefly Spain's restrictions on air force movements in and out of the colony.

The decision marks the resurrection of stalled discussions about military control of Gibraltar's seas and airspace, which is what Britain wanted. It follows Mr Cook's suggestion that he was ready to veto Spain's full integration into Nato unless Madrid eased its restrictions.

Mr Cook's remarks, on the opening day of the summit, wounded the Spanish hosts and prompted Mr Matutes to restate Spain's claim to the Rock.

Jose Maria Aznar, Prime Minister of Spain, hailed "the new sense of cohesion in alliance" achieved after the initial divisions before the decision on Tuesday to invite three former Soviet bloc countries to join in the first wave.

Yesterday, any rancour which might have resulted from the US bulldozing ahead with scant regard for the opinion of most European allies seemed to have evaporated.

Countries which failed to make it into Nato this time - Slovenia and Romania, and the Baltic states, congratulated the new members, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

The US said more new members would be invited to join at the next summit, on Nato's 50th anniversary, in April 1999.

n Brussels (AP) - European Union officials said they were suspending aid to Republika Srbska, the Serb-controlled part of Bosnia, citing the political crisis and its failure to arrest war criminals.