ARMY MAIN STAFF DISMISSES CLAIM THAT STIPETIC DEMANDED DISMISSALS IN DEFENCE MINISTRY, SIS

ZAGREB, May 11 (Hina) - The cabinet of the Croatian Armed Forces' Chief-of-Staff, General Petar Stipetic, issued a statement on Friday dismissing claims that Stipetic requested the dismissal of some civilian employees in the Defence Ministry and the Security Intelligence Service (the military counterintelligence service). "It is an untruth and a vicious imputation that General Stipetic has requested the dismissal of any civilian official in the Defence Ministry or the SIS. That is not in his jurisdiction," reads the statement, signed by the cabinet's head Vlado Sindler. General Stipetic is a proven professional soldier who takes and carries out his duties seriously and in line with his powers. He considers "media claims by Drazen Budisa who relays a false picture of relations between the Defence Ministry and the Armed Forces as frivolous and false," the statement reads. The cabinet also condemns what it believes to be the continuation of a campaign launched against General Stipetic in August 2000, when the media published claims saying some officials had been informed about the intention of the Hague tribunal to treat Stipetic as a suspect. That painful episode was stoked up until General Stipetic was questioned by the Hague tribunal as a suspect. In his testimony Stipetic "erased the blot from the military-police operations 'Flash' and 'Storm' and cleared his name." It seems that some individuals are not happy with the outcome of Stipetic's testimony and regret that he is not in The Hague, says the cabinet and requests that the army not be used for any form of promotion. (hina) rml