MESIC ADVISER IN THE DARK AS TO BUDISA' INFORMATION ON STIPETIC

ZAGREB, Dec 19 (Hina) - The Croatian president's adviser on military issues said on Tuesday he did not know where the president of the second strongest party in the ruling coalition had obtained information to the effect that the military chief-of-staff was a suspect of UN's war crimes tribunal in The Hague. In today's issue of Vecernji list daily, HSLS president Drazen Budisa was quoted as saying the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia suspected General Petar Stipetic in connection with Storm and Flash, 1995 military operations which liberated Croatian territories then occupied by Serb rebels. "All information from the Hague tribunal and from Croatia to the... tribunal should go through the government's office for cooperation with the... tribunal," President Stipe Mesic's adviser Imra Agotic said. "Given that Budisa is not a member of that office, I don't know how he could be in possession of information that there is an indictment against General Stipetic," he said, adding he saw no purpose in stirring up rumours and political tensions in connection with the summons Stipetic received from the tribunal. Agotic said he personally was glad the summons had been sent to Stipetic, who he said was a competent person who could fill in the tribunal's investigators on the broader framework and goals of Flash and Storm. Briefing the investigators on the character of the operations' goals and plans can only help in lifting suspicion from all who took part in them, said Agotic. The Stipetic interview is not intended to point to concrete names and persons but the framework in which the operations were executed, he added. (hina) ha