CRO AMBASSADOR TO UN FORWARDS LETTER TO UN SECURITY COUNCIL

NEW YORK, May 3 (Hina) - Croatia expects the United Nations Security Council to clearly confirm it would not tolerate any violations of its decisions on the demilitarisation of part of the Prevlaka peninsula, said a letter Croatia's Ambassador to the UN Ivan Simonovic forwarded to UN Security Council chairman Ambassador Denis Rewaka. Simunovic also said the UN Security Council should demand of Yugoslav authorities to immediately release journalist Antun Masle. Simonovic stressed it was obvious the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia did not respect bilateral agreements with Croatia nor Security Council resolutions, and added that Belgrade authorities had directly contravened negotiations with Croatia aimed at reaching a permanent solution to the issue of Prevlaka, Croatia's southernmost tip which borders with the Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro. Yugoslav Ambassador Vladimir Jovanovic forwarded a letter to the Security Council last week, saying that Yugoslav soldiers had entered the UN-supervised part of Prevlaka after the state of war was declared in the FRY due to NATO strikes. Jovanovic said a military checkpoint in the so called yellow zone did not jeopardise the safety of UN observers on the peninsula. The FRY will resume negotiations with Croatia once NATO has ceased its strikes against targets in the FRY. "It is the firm position of my Government that the Security Council should send a clear message to the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia that it shall not tolerate Yugoslav Army check points in the demilitarised zone nor any other violations of the demilitarised zone or its resolutions", Simonovic said in the letter. He also addressed the fate of Ante Malse, a journalist of Croatian weekly "Globus", who was apprehended on April 20 by Yugoslav military authorities. He called upon the Security Council to condemn this illegal action and to demand Masle's immediate release. (hina) it jn/ha