DROBNJAK SAYS CROATIA COOPERATING WITH TRIBUNAL IN GOTOVINA CASE

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Hina) - Croatia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Vladimir Drobnjak, said on Thursday that Croatia would take all the necessary steps within its territory to arrest General Ante Gotovina, who is sought by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, but opposed the mentioning of Gotovina in the same context as notorious Bosnian Serb wartime leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, who are also fugitives from the tribunal. #L# Addressing the UN Security Council after Tribunal President Theodor Meron and Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, Drobnjak said Croatia had met all its commitments towards the tribunal except in the case of Gotovina who is still at large. Drobnjak stressed that Croatia regularly reported to the tribunal's office of the prosecutor on its efforts to locate the indicted general and ensure his transfer to the tribunal. He said the Croatian government was determined to take all the steps within its borders to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes if these were within reach of its judiciary. The Croatian authorities call on all states to share information that may help end this case, the ambassador said. Croatia cannot act outside its sovereign territory. Arrests in tribunal-related cases are the common responsibility of the international community, he said. Drobnjak said that Croatia was disappointed with certain connotations arising from a paragraph in Security Council Resolution 1503 or any further attempts to put Gotovina in the same context with Karadzic and Mladic. Although technically this may be in conformity with the law, because all three were indicted by the tribunal, putting their names in one sentence hardly represents an act of historical justice, Drobnjak said. During a discussion in the Security Council, Britain's UN representative Emyr Parry put Karadzic, Mladic and Gotovina in the same context and expressed doubt that the three were beyond reach. He added that the EU would continue to insist on cooperation with the tribunal as an important criterion for the evaluation of the EU membership bids of the countries concerned. It was noticed that US Ambassador John Negroponte did not make any statement on the tribunal's work either in the Security Council or the General Assembly. Drobnjak stressed the need for the Hague tribunal not just to pursue justice and prosecute war criminals but also to advocate fairness and leave behind an accurate account of historical and political events so that all those who had suffered could find solace, rather than a seed of new disputes and discontent. Drobnjak also said that adherence by the tribunal to its completion strategy would be a significant contribution to confidence building and stabilisation in the former Yugoslavia. (hina) vm