FORMER YUGOSLAVIA'S SUCCESSORS SEND LETTER TO NON-ALIGNED, ISLAM COUNTRIES

NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Hina) - Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia on Tuesday forwarded a letter to the chairman of the movement of non-aligned countries and the organisation of the Islam conference, explaining their stance about the equality of successor countries of the former Yugoslavia, asking for issues of Yugoslavia's membership in international organisations be solved as for any other new member country. This stance received America's support from US State Secretary Madeleine Albright. Permanent US Representative at the UN, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, requested several months ago that the decisions of the General Assembly and the Security Council be followed and that the insignia of a country which has not existed for ten years be removed from East River, with the clear intent of taking away from Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's benefit of a silent or automatic inheriting of the status of the former Yugoslavia. At the meeting in New York on Tuesday, Croatia's Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said there is no discrimination in the stands of the four countries, but they also would not accept privileges for Belgrade. "Croatia will endorse Yugoslavia's membership in the UN when the authorities in Belgrade fulfil the necessary criteria and when they request to be accepted," Picula said. He holds that the attitude towards the issue of succession would be a test for those who come into authority after Milosevic. The four countries' foreign ministers will on Wednesday voice their views in talks with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine. (hina) lml