ZAGREB, July 28 (Hina) - The Croatian Foreign Ministry on Sunday strongly protested with the Yugoslav Embassy against a grave incident which occurred on the Danube in eastern-most Croatia. The Yugoslav ambassador refused to accept the
protest note "until facts are established."
ZAGREB, July 28 (Hina) - The Croatian Foreign Ministry on Sunday
strongly protested with the Yugoslav Embassy against a grave
incident which occurred on the Danube in eastern-most Croatia. The
Yugoslav ambassador refused to accept the protest note "until facts
are established." #L#
The ministry released a statement saying that Assistant Foreign
Minister Josko Paro had invited Yugoslav Ambassador Milan Simurdic
to express his harsh protest against today's incident.
Officials at the ministry were shocked when Simurdic refused to
accept the protest note until, he said, facts were established.
Describing today's border incident, the Foreign Ministry says that
five boats transporting 20 adults and four children sailed out of
Sarengrad on the Croatian bank of the Danube. Among them were
Vukovar-Srijem County prefect Nikola Safer, Ilok, Croatia, deputy
mayor Zeljko Sladetic, and the municipal head of Backa Palanka, on
the Yugoslav bank of the river, Zvezdan Kisic.
Before sailing out, Croatian police told the delegation to notify
competent Yugoslav services about the planned pleasure cruise
along the Danube, said Kisic.
Around 2 pm, the boats were intercepted by a Yugoslav Navy vessel
near a river islet. The boats stopped after the Yugoslav vessel
fired 4-5 machine-gun bursts into the water in front of them. The
women and children were separated from the men, who were boarded on
the Yugoslav Navy vessel and taken to Backa Palanka, including
Safer, Sladetic, and Kisic.
A Yugoslav patrol boat also fired shots in the direction of a
Croatian border police patrol boat after it headed towards the site
of the incident.
The Croatian Foreign Ministry further states that local self-
government officials from both banks of the Danube were to meet to
continue with confidence building in an attempt to overcome the
difficulties of the recent past. The ministry, therefore, is all
the more at a loss to understand and indignant at the conduct of the
Yugoslav army.
What makes the incident particularly grave is the use of firearms
against civilians on a pleasure cruise, particularly in an area
where the interstate border is not defined yet and negotiations on a
border agreement are underway, read the statement.
The Croatian Foreign Ministry strongly protested and insisted on
the immediate release of the abducted Croatian citizens, as well as
on the condemnation of the incident by the Yugoslav government.
The Croatian delegation was returned to the Croatian bank of the
river in the evening hours, after having been interviewed at a Backa
Palanka barracks.
(hina) ha