BELGRADE, Oct 10 (Hina) - Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisa Pesic has stated that a decision by the UN Security Council to end the UN Mission on Prevlaka by the end of the year "would be optimal, considering the talks that are being
held with the Croatian side," the Belgrade Fonet agency reported on Thursday.
BELGRADE, Oct 10 (Hina) - Yugoslav Prime Minister Dragisa Pesic has
stated that a decision by the UN Security Council to end the UN
Mission on Prevlaka by the end of the year "would be optimal,
considering the talks that are being held with the Croatian side,"
the Belgrade Fonet agency reported on Thursday. #L#
Pesic made this statement in response to a proposal by UN Secretary-
General Kofi Annan that the UN mandate for military observers on
Prevlaka, a Croatian peninsula bordering on
Montenegro/Yugoslavia, should end no later than December 15.
Pesic said he believes that "in the coming period, an agreement will
be reached on this transitional compromise solution," adding that
this should not "prejudge the final solution for Prevlaka."
Pesic and Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic pointed out
recently that even though negotiations with Croatia on Prevlaka
were continuing, the issue would be finally resolved following the
presidential election in Serbia and the extraordinary
parliamentary election in Montenegro.
The Yugoslav Foreign Ministry on Wednesday issued a statement in
response to Annan's proposal, saying that for some time now
Yugoslavia and Croatia had been negotiating a protocol which would
temporarily regulate a transitional border regime in the Prevlaka
area.
The protocol, which would not prejudge a final solution in any way,
would regulate demilitarisation, free movement of people and
goods, and commercial and maritime co-operation, the Ministry's
statement said. It added the document would also be an important
link in an already established system of measures of trust, and
would contribute to good neighbourly relations between the two
countries, as well as to stability and prosperity in the region.
Montenegrin President Mile Djukanovic and PM Filip Vujanovic also
said that the presence of the UN Mission on Prevlaka would no longer
be necessary.
The head of a Montenegrin expert team in charge of the Prevlaka
issue, Nebojsa Vucinic, was quoted "Blic" daily on Thursday as
saying he believed that UN observers should remain on Prevlaka for
some time even after a temporary transitional solution was found.
He added that a solution could be found quickly, perhaps in the next
two months, "if there is a little more good will on the Croatian
side."
He pointed out that Montenegro could accept a solution that was
allegedly in force when the former Yugoslav federation broke up and
under which "Croatia controls the land, and Montenegro the sea."
(hina) sp/ha sb