PRESIDENT, OPPOSITION LEADER ON YU. FOREIGN MINISTER'S APOLOGY

ZAGREB, Dec 15 (Hina) - Commenting on Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic's regret for the suffering Croatia's citizens experienced in the war, President Stipe Mesic said on Saturday the most important thing for him was that "something be actively done, that guilt be individualised and that there be cooperation where it is possible." "One has to cooperate with The Hague (war crimes tribunal), extradite those who are guilty for the crimes. In itself, the apology doesn't settle this. Therefore, I wouldn't go into analysing the apology at all," Mesic told reporters. "I wouldn't insist too much on anyone's apology, as for me the apology isn't the most important thing," he said. While visiting Zagreb on Friday, Svilanovic deeply regretted the suffering of Croatian citizens and the citizens of his country over the past several years, saying the crimes had been committed because Serbs from Croatia and elsewhere had been afraid, but that politicians were responsible for the crimes because they abused their fear. Among the parliamentary party leaders, only Vesna Skare-Ozbolt of the opposition's Democratic Centre reacted to Svilanovic's statement. She said the Yugoslav foreign minister would have done better than to express his "so-called regret for the suffering of the Croatian people" as his "chosen words are far from an apology and insufficient for everything Croatia suffered in the Greater Serbia aggression." Such expressions of regret are uttered just as a matter of form, Skare-Ozbolt said. (hina) ha sb