Kajin told reporters in the Adriatic city of Rijeka on Tuesday that he corroborated his statement that the fugitive general was neither in Croatia nor in Bosnia-Herzegovina by claiming that agents of the British MI6 had been searching for Gotovina in Croatia, and EUFOR in Bosnia, and that they had not found any proof that he was hiding in either of the two countries.
Commenting on the making of the start of Croatia's membership talks with the European Union conditional on the transfer of Gotovina to the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal, the IDS official said that one should take into account the interests of the international community which invested huge funds and its soldiers' lives in order to stop the war and ensure peace in this region. However, it is hypocritical to punish Croatia for its failure to hand over Gotovina, Kajin said.
Commenting on a Slovene ban on transport of cargo by Croatian trucks from Slovenia to EU member-countries and Croatia's announcement to resort to tit-for-tat measures, Kajin called for defusing the situation.
He said that the situation should not be worsened while Zagreb was waiting for the confirmation of the arrival of Slovene President Janez Drnovsek to President Stjepan Mesic's inauguration in Zagreb on Friday.