COUNTY PREFECT COMMENTS ON MONTENEGRIN FOREIGN MINISTER'S PREVLAKA STATEMENT

DUBROVNIK, Jan 4 (Hina) - Dubrovnik-Neretva County prefect Ivan Sprlje issued a statement on Friday on Montenegrin Foreign Minister Branko Lukovac's claim that conditions for the discontinuation of the mandate of U.N. military observers in Prevlaka, Croatia's southernmost peninsula, have not been created yet. Lukovac made the statement commenting on a declaration on the cancellation of the extension of the UN Prevlaka mission, adopted at the latest session of the county assembly on Dec. 21 last year. Prefect Sprlje reminds that the unanimously adopted declaration conveys the stand that Dubrovnik-Neretva County does not consider Prevlaka a territorial or security issue. The county assembly believes there is no reason to prolong the mandate of U.N. military observers and considers the declaration an expression of the readiness of citizens and political factors in the county to support the efforts of the Croatian government to solve the problem as soon as possible. For that purpose, the Croatian Foreign Ministry will appoint a commission for demarcation on land and sea. Montenegrin dailies today quoted Lukovac as saying conditions for the withdrawal of U.N. military observers from Prevlaka have not been met yet and that the Dubrovnik county assembly's declaration was a political message to the Croatian government to speed up the settlement of the issue. "The observers' mandate could end only if the two sides agreed - either to adopt a final solution or themselves replace the observers with the same number of policemen," Lukovac told the Podgorica daily "Publika". (hina) rml