ONLY IN 1994 DID I BECOME COMMANDER OF ALL FORCES - BLASKIC

THE HAGUE, April 9 (Hina) - A Croatian Defence Council (HVO) general, Tihomir Blaskic, during this week's testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said that one of the biggest problems in the functioning of the command chain in Central Bosnia was solved only at the beginning of 1994 -- the problem of the independent operation of units for special purposes. The "Vitezovi" (knights), "Djokeri" (jokers) and "Tvrtko" units were disbanded by a decision of the Defence Ministry of the Croat Republic of Herceg-Bosna in mid-January 1994, and the process of forming a guard brigade was started. The guard brigade was placed under Blaskic's command. This ensured Blaskic's absolute command power in central Bosnia, after a series of his reports to the HVO Main Staff on the wilfulness and independent functioning of these units, which he had been sending during the entire previous year. Blaskic took the stand in his defence again this week after a break of ten days, in reply to indictments for crimes committed by his subordinates in the Lasva Valley in 1993, during Croat-Moslem conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Amongst crimes included in Blaskic's indictment were attacks on villages in the Lasva River Valley, as well as the displacement of residents, which, according to his testimony, was committed by the special units. According to Blaskic's testimony, one of the most controversial persons in power in the region, commander of "Vitezovi" unit, Darko Kraljevic, was tricked and removed from the Lasva Valley in early 1994. Blaskic said Kraljevic was offered, as a bait, to train for a helicopter pilot. Blaskic pointed to Kraljevic's self-initiated acts several times during his testimony, as well as Kraljevic's selective approach to Blaskic's commands. According to Blaskic's testimony, Kraljevic was a person who had abducted three Croat officials in BH, including the vice-president of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and of the Croat Union of Herzeg-Bosna, Darijo Kordic. The officials were released upon the request of Mate Boban himself, who was the leader of Bosnian Croats at the time. "As far as I know he was never tried for that," Blaskic said back in March. He added Kraljevic had been attacking Moslem settlements and positions on his own initiative, as well as confiscating vehicles and armaments of Croat forces. "I had no authority to start a disciplinary procedure against this commander", Blaskic said, adding punishments depended on the head of the Defence Section of the Croat Community in Herzeg-Bosna. He said he had no knowledge about Kraljevic being disciplinary punished in any way. Blaskic said that a new problem arose in the parallel command structure in June 1993, when the security and intelligence service in Vitez was formed. The head of the Service was Miso Mijic, and his deputy was Darko Kraljevic. The organisation was functioning completely independently from the Operative Zone which was under Blaskic's command. Among accomplishments of the service, Blaskic included the take- over of the Vitez explosives factory, which was, until then, under HVO's control. The head of the Service prohibited everyone, including Blaskic, to enter the factory, Blaskic said. (hina) it jn/lml