BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4876

HR-BULLETIN-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4876 HINA Zagreb 26 January 2003CROATIAN PRESIDENT EXPLAINS HIS STATEMENT ON WAR DAMAGESZAGREB, Jan 26 (Hina) - President Stjepan Mesic told Croatian Television on Sunday that his statement that Yugoslavia must pay war damages to Croatia did not mean that he was going to launch such an initiative, but that he was only stating his opinion answering a question by a Banja Luka daily whether Croatia still insisted on war damages. "I believe that Croatia must insist on war damages, but whether we will managed to get it is an entirely another issue. This was only an answer to what my opinion is and my opinion is that the aggressor must pay war damages," Mesic said. Mesic statement to the Banja Luka daily was cited by several Croatian newspapers on Sunday, claiming that Mesic demanded Yugoslavia to pay EUR15 billion in war damages. According to the media, Mesic "got himself involved in commenting war reparations, which is in the governme