DATE: Thursday, June 12, 1997               TAG: 9706120498

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   22 lines

NATO APPROVES NEW LEADER

NATO planners on Wednesday approved Gen. Wesley Clark as new commander of the military alliance and allied forces in Europe.

Although the Senate must confirm President Clinton's nomination of Clark as head of NATO and U.S. forces in Europe, the NATO Defense Planning Committee in Brussels passed the resolution giving Clark the commander's job starting in July after Gen. George Joulwan retires.

Clinton nominated Clark for the job at the end of March.

Clark, 52, is a four-star Army general in charge of the U.S. Southern Command in Panama, which oversees military operations in Central and South America. He helped broker the 1995 peace accord in Bosnia.

NATO is in charge of the current military mission in Bosnia, where U.S. forces are scheduled to end their peacekeeping mission in the summer of 1998.

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