ADVISOR NICK CORRECTS QUOTATIONS ON SLOVENIANS' WITHDRAWAL FROM SVETA GERA

ZAGREB, March 22 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic's foreign affairs advisor, Stanko Nick, on Wednesday forwarded a statement correcting quotations, released by the news agency HINA and other Croatian media, that Slovenian President Milan Kucan had notified the Croatian President Mesic of first steps being taken for the withdrawal of the Slovenian army from Sveta Gera (western Croatia). "Instead of a (...) sentence saying that the Slovene President Milan Kucan informed President Mesic of the taking of first steps in the withdrawal of the Slovene Army, Stanko Nick, the President's advisor for foreign policy, said that the Croatian President regards that it would be good when the Slovene party would respond, with a similar positive gesture - for example with first concrete steps for the retreat of the Slovene Army from Sveta Gera," read a Wednesday's statement. Hina and a few dailies ("Vecernji List" and "Jutarnji List") on Tuesday reported from a news briefing held by Nick, at President Mesic's Office. They quoted him as saying that Kucan notified Mesic that first steps were being taken in the withdrawal of a small Slovene garrison at Sveta Gera (Croatian territory). Slovenians moved into the military barracks in that area after the then Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) was retreating from Slovenia and western parts of Croatia in 1991. (hina) jn ms