YU AMBASSADOR TO CROATIA CONDEMNS USE OF 'INHUMANE WEAPONS'

ZAGREB, May 19 (Hina) - The Yugoslav Ambassador to Croatia, Veljko Knezevic, on Wednesday condemned the use of "inhumane weapons" in NATO strikes on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), but refused to comment on the use of inhumane weapons during the Serb aggression on Croatia. "What happened in Croatia was a civil war, Yugoslavia did not wage war against Croatia", the Yugoslav Ambassador told a press conference. Therefore, Yugoslavia could not have used cluster bombs and other inhumane types of weapons, he added. Several days ago, the FRY forwarded a reminder to the United Nations on the use of inhumane weapons in the NATO aggression on the FRY, including "illegal weaponry, such as cluster bombs and reduced uranium". When asked whether Croatian reporter Antun Masle, imprisoned in Montenegro's capital of Podgorica, would be released in the near future, Knezevic said Masle would be released once he was acquitted by the Yugoslav Military Court. Addressing a peace plan, adopted by the G8 Group in Bonn, Knezevic said the FRY believed this, too, was a proposal which needed to be debated, and which could, in the end, have a place in the positive solution of the Kosovo conflict. He said the FRY was ready to withdraw its military and police forces from Kosovo "after the bombing stops and negotiations start". When asked whether Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic would resign from his office due to the pressure of the Yugoslav Opposition and for the sake of protection of his citizens, Knezevic said Milosevic would leave his office at the end of his mandate. (hina) it/rml