CRO EDITION OF FRENCH REPORTER'S BOOK ON FORMER YU WAR PRESENTED

ZAGREB, June 18 (Hina) - The Croatian edition of "Unextinguished Embers", a book written by eminent French journalist Yves Heller, was presented in Zagreb on Friday. Heller, who passed away in 1996, covered the conflict in the former Yugoslavia for "Le Monde" between 1991 and 1995. Attending the presentation were Heller's wife, numerous Croatian political and public figures, and members of the French Embassy and the French Institute in Zagreb. The chronology of Heller's war reports provides an insight into how public opinion in France about the war in the former Yugoslavia was formed and how it changed, said "Le Monde" president Jean-Marie Colombani. The foreword to the Croatian edition was written by Croatian presidential advisor Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, who met Heller when she was the Croatian President's spokeswoman. Heller did not write his reports from an office, but from the field, Skare-Ozbolt said. His descriptions were sober and restrained, with a certain bitterness which was the result of the western world's stance to the war in the former Yugoslavia. Skare-Ozbolt said her talks with Heller had been controversial. She also assessed that in their contributions, the editors of Heller's book had not succeeded completely in answering why a war broke out in the former Yugoslavia and what were its causes. (hina) ha jn