CROATIAN GOVERNMENT CLAIMS ARE FALSE - SILAJDZIC

SARAJEVO, Aug 31 (Hina) - Haris Silajdzic, a co-chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina said the claims made in Tuesday's statement by the Croatian Government saying the Bosnian authorities had distanced themselves from Silajdzic's statements on Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's responsibility for the Croat-Muslim conflict in Bosnia were false. The first minutes of Tuesday night's central news broadcast on the Bosnian state television were dedicated to the statement released today by the Croatian Government which announced that it would discontinue all contacts with Silajdzic due to his statements in the Croatian daily "Jutarnji list" and his refusal to apologise for them. The same broadcast carried Silajdzic's reaction saying the Croatian Government's claim that the BH Council of Ministers had distanced itself from his claims was false. "Those claims in the Croatian Government's statement have been falsified", Silajdzic said. Asked to comment on his government's statement, Croatia's Ambassador to Bosnia, Damir Zoric, said it was in Croatia's interest to cooperate with Bosnia-Herzegovina and see it progress as Croatia itself would not be able to come closer to European associations if its neighbourhood was unstable. He reiterated that the statement itself mentioned Croatia's readiness to continue cooperating with Bosnia-Herzegovina. Zoric assessed that all problems in the relations between the two countries can be solved without creating additional tensions. Cooperation between the two countries can continue without Silajdzic as a co-chairman of the BH Council of Ministers, he said. "Still, there are some things we cannot forget just as it had been warned about in time. It is now for him (Silajdzic) to make a move", Zoric said. (hina) rml