LJUBLJANA, Aug 31 (Hina) - Slovene police, who had increased their presence in "disputed territory" near Hotiza and Sveti Martin in the last four days, withdrew from the area on Thursday afternoon because preparatory work on the
construction of a dyke on the Mura river had been discontinued and representatives of the Croatian Water Management company, who were due to visit the construction site, cancelled their visit, Slovene news agency STA reported.
LJUBLJANA, Aug 31 (Hina) - Slovene police, who had increased their
presence in "disputed territory" near Hotiza and Sveti Martin in the last four
days, withdrew from the area on Thursday afternoon because preparatory work on
the construction of a dyke on the Mura river had been discontinued and
representatives of the Croatian Water Management company, who were due to visit
the construction site, cancelled their visit, Slovene news agency STA
reported. "Members of the special police unit from the Murska Sobota
Police Department have begun to withdraw after the works have been
discontinued, and police department spokesman Jozef Prsa has confirmed that
they are no longer present in Hotiza," STA said.
Slovene media said on Thursday that Croatian workers had been working
on the dyke on the Mura by shortly before 9 am when they obviously received a
message from Zagreb to stop work.
STA quoted a spokesman for the Croatian Medjimurje Police Department as
saying that the joint border crossing in the area was operating normally and
that there were no incidents.
"We have been saying all along that the border is being guarded by the
usual number of police (on the Croatian side) and that we have not deployed any
intervention force," spokesman Krunoslav Basaric said.