Britain is investing great efforts so that Croatia could start membership talks with the European Union, but we do not know the Croatian language, villages and mountains, we don't know friends of Ante Gotovina and his network. That is something Croats must do, it is their responsibility to find him, MacShane said.
If I were Ante Gotovina, I would say: "Rid my country of this burden, don't compare me with Karadzic and Mladic" and I would surrender to the tribunal, he added.
MacShane repeated Hague tribunal chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte's claim that Gotovina had been spotted in the southern Croatian resort of Brela this summer and expressed disappointment with the failure of the authorities and ordinary people to report his whereabouts.
Before MacShane's statement was broadcast in the studio, Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul, Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt, Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) leader Anto Djapic and Croatian People's Party (HNS) leader Vesna Pusic had been discussing the latest report by the UN tribunal chief prosecutor.
"A completely wrong perception was created in the public - about Croatia being cornered and having to hand Gotovina over, otherwise it won't join the EU. This simply isn't true," Zuzul said.
"The EU doesn't have different measures for Croatia in relation to other countries. Croatia is requested to respect the Copehagen criteria and will be judged according to that," he added.
"It is therefore not true that November 23, when Carla del Ponte is to submit her report to the Security Council, is D-Day for Croatia," Zuzul said.
"Croatia's cooperation with the Hague tribunal has never been better than in the past ten months. The Gotovina case is the only outstanding issue. We have promised Carla del Ponte that we will do everything in our power to solve this issue. We are doing that and will continue to do so. Her increased pressure on Croatia is the result of the fact that the prosecution and the tribunal must start completing their mission in line with the UN's decision," Justice Minister Skare Ozbolt said reiterating that Gotovina was definitely not in Brela this summer.
Minister Zuzul said Croatia was cooperating with the UN tribunal for reasons of principle and not because it was pressured into cooperation from the outside.
"We cooperate because we want to be a law-based state. Cooperation means the enforcement of laws. We don't like many allegations from the indictments, but that's another dimension, which does not rule out the enforcement of laws," Zuzul said.
Djapic disagreed, stating that the latest events proved that cooperation with the tribunal "is for the most part a political issue, and only marginally a legal one," which was why the government's strategy was misconceived.
HNS leader Pusic believes that the Gotovina case is the result of the wrong policy pursued in 1998 which was now being paid for.