
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 5, 1995                   TAG: 9508070099
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: HANOI, VIETNAM                                 LENGTH: Short

OFFICIAL: MIA SEARCHES TO CONTINUE

Vietnam's cooperation in the search for Americans missing from the war shows no sign of flagging now that Washington has extended recognition, the U.S. official in charge of MIA affairs said Friday.

``The mood was very positive,'' James Wold, deputy assistant secretary of defense, said after meeting with Vietnamese officials. ``There was certainly a suggestion that they would work harder in their cooperation with us.''

Wold arrived in advance of Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who comes to Hanoi on Saturday to establish diplomatic ties with the Communist government 20 years after it won the Vietnam War.

Some veterans' groups and relatives of the 2,198 missing Americans have criticized the move to establish ties with Vietnam, saying Vietnam now has no incentive to help investigate the cases. Some also have expressed fears that the U.S. government now may quietly reduce its efforts.

``That's not going to happen,'' Wold said. ``President Clinton has made the fullest possible accounting ... our highest priority vis-a-vis Vietnam."

- Associated Press

by CNB