BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4894

HR-BULLETIN-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4894 HINA Zagreb 16 March 2003DEFENCE MINISTER: NO NEW U.S. REQUESTS HAVE BEEN SENT TO ZAGREBZAGREB, March 16 (Hina) - Defence Minister Zeljka Antunovic on Saturday rebutted any speculation that the United States had forwarded any new requests to Croatia in relation to the announced U.S. military operation in Iraq. In an interview with a television station on Saturday evening, Antunovic reiterated that on 26 February the government had made a decision on allowing Americans to use Croatia's airspace for overflights by civilian transport planes of the coalition forces in the event of a military action in Iraq. Pursuant to the decision, those planes may land and refuel at Croatian airports. Explaining the decision, the minister said it defined the extent of the government's approval with regard to a possible request from the U.S. of that kind. Antunovic said that since then no new request had arrived from Washington. "There has been