CRO POLICE DID NOT DESTROY HUMANITARIAN AID FOR KOSOVARS - MINISTRY

ZAGREB, April 6 (Hina) - The Croatian Interior Ministry's public relations office on Tuesday issued a statement concerning an article published in the latest issue of the "Nacional" weekly, entitled "Due to Tudjman's Secret Promises to Slobodan Milosevic, Croatian Police Destroyed a Shipment of Food, Clothing and Medications for Kosovo Albanians". The Interior Ministry claimed that the article contained "a number of lies about the Ministry's work". According to the article, whose source was a vice president of the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Stipe Mesic, during a check-up of a container ship, the Zadar police department "destroyed the humanitarian aid the Albanian Diaspora from Zadar wanted to send by ship". According to the article, it was not possible to check the information because "it was not possible to find official, let alone unofficial sources at the Zadar police department". "It is a lie that the Croatian police destroyed the food, clothing and medicines intended for Kosovo Albanians", the Ministry said in the statement. It further said the claim that the article's authors had tried to check the information with the Zadar police department was also a lie. Zadar policemen, at the request of the Albanian Democratic Alliance from Zadar, on January 12, 1999, were present at the loading of humanitarian aid at the freight border crossing at Zadar's Gazenica port. "Customs and freight control was carried out then to which representatives of the Albanian Democratic Alliance had no objections whatsoever", the Ministry's statement said. (hina) rml