CROATIA'S AMBASSADOR TO UN COMMENTS ON ICTY ANNUAL REPORT

NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Hina) - A report which the International War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) President, forwarded to the UN General Assembly and Security Council on Friday neither covers topical issues nor it is balanced, assessed Croatia's Ambassador to the UN, Ivan Simonovic. It is obvious that the report fails to record the arrival of Vinko Martinovic in The Hague and to mention the Croatian judiciary's decision that Mladen Naletilic will be extradited, Simonovic explained. Instead, the report deals with only difficulties in the cooperation with Croatia and it criticises Croatian officials and the National Sabor in the way contrary to good manners and which goes beyond the mandate of the ICTY, the Croatian diplomat added. He assessed that during the reporting period there had been positive steps in the work of the Hague-based Tribunal. He referred to the issuing of some indictments and apprehension of certain war crimes suspects who allegedly committed crimes against Bosnian Croats. Simonovic particularly pointed out the indictment which the Tribunal issued against Slobodan Milosevic. "A possibility of extending (Milosevic's) indictments to cover crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina shows the Tribunal's readiness to establish the legal liability but also political and historical responsibility for a sequence of tragic events in the south-east of Europe," Croatian Ambassador said. It is pity that the report has not more objectively described the real state of affairs in the relations between Croatia and the ICTY, he added. Simonovic believes that the speech of the ICTY President Gabrielle Kirk McDonnald at the UN General Assembly, announced for November 8, will be a chance for Croatia to "systematically present its objections to the (annual) report concerning the Tribunal's work and cooperation with it, in general." "It is clear and indisputable that Croatia must cooperate with the Tribunal," Simonovic said. Objections which can be raised to the Tribunal's work are not aimed at contesting the ICTY but they are made rather to assist the ICTY in order that the Tribunal can perform its task more successfully, the Croatian diplomat said adding that it is evident that more weight would be given to Croatia's objections, if more credibly the country co-operates with the Tribunal on unquestionable issues. (hina) ms