BH FEDERATION DEFENCE MINISTRY DISMISSES ACCUSATIONS BY FORMER CROATIAN OFFICIALS

SARAJEVO, Aug 30 (Hina) - The Defence Ministry of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday issued a statement resolutely dismissing accusations by former Croatian state officials regarding the involvement of members of the Bosnian Army 5th Corps in war crimes committed on Croatia's territory during the 1995 operation 'Storm'. The statement is a response to statements made by Croatia's former foreign and defence ministers and the current leaders of the Democratic Centre (DC) party, Mate Granic and Pavao Miljavac, who said that members of the Bosnian Army's 5th Corps could be responsible for the killing of civilians in the Donja Glina area (Croatia) in 1995. The Ministry's statement read that such statements were "fabricated accusations and imputation attempts" aimed at shifting responsibility from those who are "as responsible as they should be given credit" for everything that was going on during operation 'Storm' to somebody else. "Always when the question of relations and cooperation between Croatia and the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague becomes topical, accusations and insinuations against the Bosnian Army start. In the past few days, a campaign against the role of the BH Army's 5th Corps in the August 1995 liberation operations was launched simultaneously with underhand statements on Bosnian generals," read the statement by the Ministry's information department and the Federation Army Joint Command, which is headed by General Atif Dudakovic, the war-time commander of the 5th Corps. According to the statement, Granic and Miljavac have gone farthest in attempts to play down the war role of the Bosnian Army and its 5th Corps. Respecting everything Croatian citizens did during the Homeland War to win freedom and justice, the bodies of Bosnia-Herzegovina intend to fully cooperate with the ICTY and recommend that the others do the same, the statement read. (hina) rml