ZAGREB, Nov 6 (Hina) - Croatia must fully cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Dutch Defence Minister Henricus Gregorius Jozeph Kamp said on Thursday during a meeting with his Croatian counterpart Zeljka Antunovic,
with whom he agreed on various forms of assistance in the modernisation of the Croatian defence ministry.
ZAGREB, Nov 6 (Hina) - Croatia must fully cooperate with the UN war
crimes tribunal in The Hague, Dutch Defence Minister Henricus
Gregorius Jozeph Kamp said on Thursday during a meeting with his
Croatian counterpart Zeljka Antunovic, with whom he agreed on
various forms of assistance in the modernisation of the Croatian
defence ministry. #L#
The Netherlands supports Croatia's aspirations to become a full
NATO and EU member, and for that to happen relations between the two
countries have to be transparent and several issues need to be
solved, the most important one being cooperation with the Hague
tribunal, Kamp said after the meeting.
Asked about Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal and the case of
the runaway general Ante Gotovina, Antunovic said the Dutch
minister had suggested Croatia be more active and find new ways of
cooperation with the tribunal to prove its claims.
"Many aspects in which we fully meet cooperation requirements fall
through because of only one sentence of prosecutor Carla Del Ponte,
namely that Croatia is not offering 100-percent cooperation. We
have to step up all activities in that area to prove not only to Ms.
Del Ponte, but also to all countries interested in solving possible
war crimes, that we are doing what we say we are doing," Antunovic
said.
She added that one of the topics of today's meeting was bilateral
military cooperation.
Kamp described the talks as open and useful, adding that he was
impressed by the progress Croatia had made.
The Dutch official was today also received by President Stjepan
Mesic.
He informed Mesic about the assistance of the Dutch government in a
programme of reduction of Croatian armed forces and new forms of
cooperation between the countries' defence ministries.
Mesic acquainted his guest with his assessment of the security
situation in the region and Croatia's relations with neighbouring
countries.
Attending the talks at Kamp's side were Dutch Ambassador Lionel
Veer, the minister's senior advisor on defence policy, Sebastian
Reijn, and a deputy public relations officer, Joop Veen, the
President's office said in a statement.
(hina) rml