WHO DISARMED CROATIAN TERRITORIAL DEFENCE - INQUIRES DJAPIC

ZAGREB, Dec 11 (Hina) - The Croatian Party of Rights' (HSP) bench on Friday proposed the establishment of a commission of inquiry which should investigate in what period of time and on whose decision weapons of the Territorial Defence of the former Social Republic of Croatia had been given to the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in late 1989 and early 1990. The commission should investigate if then current authorities in Croatia had been familiar with the plan, and if they had tried to oppose it, President of the HSP parliamentary bench, Anto Djapic, told reports on Friday. The HSP's proposal was endorsed by the representatives of six parliamentary parties: the Croatian Social Liberal Party, the Liberal Party, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, the Croatian Pure Party of Rights, the Croatian Christian Democratic Union, and the Party of Croatian Plains, and independent representatives. According to tentative estimates, Croatia was deprived of weapons which would have sufficed for the armament of 200,000 Croatian citizens. Shortly after, Croatia spent billions of dollars to purchase weapons to defend its freedom and sovereignty, Djapic said. The war commander of the Croatian People's Defence, Milivoj Kujundzic, said the former JNA had conducted the disarmament plan of the Croatian Territorial Defence in two phases. The first cargo of arms was collected during the first round of the first Croatian multi-party elections in April 1990, and the rest during the second electoral round in May. "(That act) deprived the new Croatian democratic authority of weaponry, which was then given to Chetniks", said Kujundzic, and recalled the subsequent introduction of a weaponry import embargo. He claims the then current chairman of the Croatian Presidency, Ivo Latin, then current Croatian Parliament president Andjelko Runjic, and then current head of the Communist Alliance of Croatia Ivica Racan, must have been familiar with the disarmament plan. "I can understand that they did not prevent the plan themselves, but I cannot forgive them for not protesting against it", Kujundjic concluded. (hina) it jn/ha