HDZ URGES GOVT. NOT TO ABANDON LEGAL DISPUTE WITH ICTY

ZAGREB, Oct 29 (Hina) - The president of the strongest opposition party on Tuesday urged the Croatian government not to abandon its legal dispute with the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague regarding the indicted General Janko Bobetko even in case the Appeals Chamber ruled negatively on the government's two appeals against the ICTY's indictment against Gen. Bobetko. #L# If the Appeals Chamber refuses to consider or turns down the appeals, Croatia should request a debate before the UN Security Council, Ivo Sanader, the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), told reporters. As a UN member and one of the founders of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Croatia is entitled to seek that the Hague tribunal's work be re-examined, said Sanader. He stated that claims in indictments alleging that in Croatian Army liberation operations Croatian officers deliberately carried out ethnic cleansing were unacceptable. Croatia could benefit from a diplomatic action to that end, so the action should be prepared well, Sanader said, but added he was not sure Croatia's current diplomacy was capable of it. He declined to comment on some media reports alleging that Prime Minister Ivica Racan had decided that following the Appeals Chamber ruling, Bobetko should be served with the indictment by force if necessary. That is media speculation, he said. (hina) ha sb