US SENATOR:CROATIA DESERVES TO BE PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE MEMBER

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Hina) - By its achievements and the strategic importance in the region Croatia deserves to be a member-state of the Partnership for Peace Programme, U.S. Senator Slade Gorton wrote to the Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on the occasion of the forthcoming summit of the NATO in Washington. Croatia has been more than any other country in the region the personification of the defence cooperation, Gorton wrote and added that peace-keeping missions and humanitarian actions in Bosnian would not be possible without such Croatian cooperation. In the letter to Albright, this American Senator recalled that the conclusion of the Dayton Accords was partly the result of the Croatian military successes in 1995. Today, the survival of Bosnia-Herzegovina as an independent state depends on a strong and democratic Croatia firmly tied with the West, this Republican Senator from the Federal State of Washington said. He also pointed to the importance of Croatia as a barrier to the Serbian aggressive policy. Comparing Croatia to 25 countries admitted to the Partnership for Peace, Gorton assessed that by a level of its internal democratic development Croatia belonged to the middle group of countries covered by the aforementioned programme. There are few peoples that suffered so much as Croatia in the last decade until its dream about independence came true, the Senator said adding that to refuse Croatia's access to the Partnership for Peace Programme would bring a wrong message to the Croatian people. Gorton's letter to the State Secretary was inspired by a recent action of the Croatian Americans' association (CAA) during the "Croatian Days at the Hill". Gorton announced that he would seek the support of other senators to Croatia's bid to enter the Partnership for Peace and maintained that such joint proposal could be forwarded to the State Department in May. (hina) jn ms