MESIC SAYS CROATIA NEVER FORMALLY SENT TROOPS TO BOSNIA

ZAGREB, Feb 27 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic asserted Tuesday "Croatia never formally sent army troops to Bosnia- Herzegovina and a decision by the head of state or the Croatian parliament on the issue was never made". "We can speak only about whether sections of the army crossed the border and conduct an inquiry," Mesic said, adding there were individual transgressions into Bosnia-Herzegovina and people who did so should be held accountable. "The Republic of Croatia cannot answer for individuals of groups crossing the border," Mesic told a regular news conference. Commenting a statement on the issue made in parliament by the president of the Croatian people's Party (HNS), Vesna Pusic, Mesic said what he understood from it is that the Croatian Democratic Union party (HDZ) had led an aggressive policy in Bosnia- Herzegovina, not that Croatia carried out an aggression on Bosnia. "The HDZ in Bosnia-Herzegovina led a policy based on assumptions the country would split, and incited those who worked on it. In the end, this did not happen," Mesic asserted. He stressed Croatia today was for an independent Bosnia- Herzegovina with which it wants to solve open issues on a bilateral basis. Speaking about yesterday's sentences read to Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez by the international war crimes tribunal, that is, the trial chamber's thesis that the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina was an international conflict, thanks to the intervention of Croatia, Mesic said "Croatia does not see it fit to become involved in international conflicts," adding the state's institutions will voice their stance on the matter. President Mesic confirmed he received an invitation to attend the Croat National Assembly in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and said he can only communicate with Bosnia's institutions. Those who wish to ghettoise Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina are doing them more damage, he stressed. First the Dayton Agreement must be implemented and the economy revived. Croats should then seek a way out of their situation in a decision by Bosnia's Constitutional Court on the constitutive quality of all three peoples in the country. Asked to recall his words to Austria's daily "Format" on his alleged possible apology to "Krajina Serbs) for exile, Mesic's spokeswoman read his reply to the paper in full: "I hold that such an apology is an individual, moral act. Nobody forced Willy Brandt to kneel before the Warsaw ghetto war. There is always time for gestures like this. I deem it most important at this time to individualise the guilt and bring those responsible before courts, because there is no sense in somebody apologising to Croatians on behalf of Serbia, while mass killers from Vukovar are walking around Belgrade". Speaking about what will be facing Croatia in the economic plan, President Mesic said progress was already visible, adding Croatia should become a security zone and a law-based state, which foreign investors must recognise. There will be protests, but one should be objective and say many problems were inherited -- that Croatia was plundered, moguled and isolated during the HDZ reign at which time many banks bankrupted, the military component in Bosnia-Herzegovina was financed, privileges handed out, etc. Mesic added, however, he was not satisfied with the speed of solving problems. In comment to statements by retired Admiral Davor Domazet that the Armed Forces were not prepared for adopting the dictate of the new government authority, President Mesic asserted he knows very well what is going on in the Armed Forces, while Domazet does not, even though he was an intelligence officer educated by the former Yugoslav People's Army. "The Croatian army is loyal to the Croatian state and nothing unconstitutional is happening within it. As commander-in-chief I am satisfied with the situation within the army," Mesic asserted. He said he advocated a decentralisation of the government authority and resources, which should be taken to a lower level so towns, municipalities and counties would be spurred to become more actively involved in solving their own problems. (hina) lml sb