BRITISH EMBASSY RESPONDS TO CROATIA'S PROTEST

( Editorial: --> 7670 ) ZAGREB, Mar 6 (Hina) - British Ambassador to Croatia Colin Munro Friday responded to a protest Croatia made over a statement by British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. Josip Paro, Assistant to the Croatian Foreign Minister, on Thursday delivered a verbal protest to Munro over the comments by Cook, who accused Croatia of being "the single greatest obstacle to resolving the refugee crisis", alluded to alleged territorial pretensions of Croatia towards Bosnia-Herzegovina and stated that President Franjo Tudjman's recent speech showed "ethnic intolerance". The British Embassy in Zagreb today issued a statement saying the following: "HE Mr Colin Munro, British Ambassador to Croatia, has today commented on Hina's incomplete report of his meeting with Mr Josip Paro, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, on 5 March. Mr Paro had requested the meeting to protest at comments made by the British Foreign Secretary in Sarajevo on 4 March. "Mr Munro responded to this protest, drawing attention to parts of the (Croatian) President's speech of 21 February which had caused international concern. He welcomed Mr Paro's unqualified statement that Croatia had no territorial ambitions on Bosnia. But the President's speech could not be ignored. It would have been helpful if the President could have received the EU Troika Ambassadors on 2 March in order to clarify his real position. "On the return of refugees and displaced persons, Mr Munro explained that the return of Croatian Serb citizens would not now threaten Croatia within its secure internationally recognised borders. The British Foreign Secretary had not singled out Croatia for criticism. He had also spoken firmly about the need for refugee return to both the Bosniac and Serb leaderships in Bosnia and Herzegovina." In a statement issued Thursday by a Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman and reported by Hina, Paro also "reminded the British Ambassador of those parts of Franjo Tudjman's speech in which the Croatian President calls on the members of the ruling party to assume the leading role in the social reintegration and asks of the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) to be the guarantor of the policy of reconciliation toward Croatian citizens of Serb nationality". As said in the statement, Paro "stressed that the number of Serbs who had returned to the Republic of Croatia from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or from the Danube region to their former places of residence clearly showed that the Republic of Croatia was not an obstacle to the resolution of the refugee problem. It was especially emphasised that the Government continues to be dedicated to the policy of the two-way return of refugees and displaced persons, as well as to the policy of controlled return of Serb refugees from other countries". (hina) ha jn /mb 061700 MET mar 98