DJUKIC DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN PREPARING REBELION AGAINST CROATIA

ZAGREB, Aug 18 (Hina) - Serb People's Party president Milan Djukic refuted on Friday allegations made in today's Slobodna Dalmacija daily to the effect that in 1990 and 1991 he had been implicated in preparing a rebellion against Croatia. Alongside the Djukic article, Slobodna Dalmacija published a copy of a classified Security and Intelligence Service document which states that Djukic was present on several occasions in 1990 and 1991 when officers of the former Yugoslav federation's army, JNA, were distributing weapons among Croatian Serbs in the Lika region. The article's author concluded "that Djukic was involved in preparing the rebellion against the Republic of Croatia, and not considerably less than his chief at the time, Milan Babic." Refuting the allegation, Djukic told Hina today "that only feeble- minded, hate-imbued people whose reason has been overpowered by hatred can make such claims." Djukic said he had advocated an integral Croatia way back in 1990 and that he had been the first to say that Serbs had the chance to settle their status in Croatia through reason and political means, and not weapons. He asserted he left the Lika region on 17 August 1990, claiming he had been Croatia's first displaced person, displaced by Mile Martic and Milan Babic. He also recalled that in 1995, when he was parliament's deputy speaker, his house in Donji Lapac had been set on fire. Recently, Djukic has been making headlines with controversial statements in connection with Flash and Storm, 1995's liberation operations which helped Croatia regain its territory occupied by Serb separatists. (hina) ha