TUDJMAN MEETS REPRESENTATIVES OF U.S.A. & GREAT BRITAIN & UNHCR & OSCE

OSCE ( Editorial: --> 6610 ) ZAGREB, April 14 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Tuesday received US Ambassador William Montgomery, British Ambassador Colin Munro, the head of the UNHCR Mission in Croatia, Robert Robinson, and deputy head of the OSCE Mission Victor Tomseth, a statement from the President's office said. The high officials expressed satisfaction with the positive elements of the government programme of return of persons who left Croatia. However, they also voiced concern over the forthcoming parliamentary discussion on the adoption of the document. Tudjman recalled that until August 1995 one third of Croatia's territory was occupied and that at one period of time Croatia cared for 750,000 displaced people and Croats expelled from Bosnia- Herzegovina. He added that during the liberation of the occupied areas, rebel Serbs followed commands by their rebel leadership and left Croatia despite his repeated call to stay. The Croatian authorities would continue to work on the solution of the question of return of people who left Croatia individually and on the humanitarian basis, Tudjman said. A mass return could cause destabilisation and a return to the situation prior to the rebellion of part of the Serb population against the Croatian state and their participation in the Great- Serbian aggression, he warned. As regards the return of Croat refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina who were accommodated in Croatia, Tudjman said that many of them did not want to return to the areas they had been expelled from because of security and other reasons and that one should be realistic as regards their speedy return. Present at the meeting at President Tudjman's side were presidential chief-of-staff Hrvoje Sarinic, presidential advisor on foreign policy Neven Madey and deputy presidential chief-of- staff Vesna Skare-Ozbolt. (hina) rm 141313 MET apr 98