THREE-DAY NEGOTIATIONS ON SUCCESSION TO FORMER YUGOSLAVIA END

BRUSSELS, June 4 (Hina) - The three-day negotiations which delegations of the successor-states to the former Yugoslavia held in Brussels ended on Wednesday. The negotiations focused on the delegations' amendments to the text of a memorandum on understanding, proposed by international mediator Sir Arthur Watts. The only real achievement of the meeting was, according to the leaders of most delegations, that after statements concerning concrete proposals had been made, it was possible to gain a better insight into the differences among the delegations' stands. The differences divided the delegations into two groups. One comprises the leaders of delegations from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia, who are of the opinion that nothing has been done during the year of Sir Watts' mandate, since no progress has been made or any agreement announced. The archive and real estate (several embassy buildings in Europe) issues, concerning which an agreement was tried to be reached, remained blocked. At the three-day meeting, it was only agreed to continue with negotiations. In early July, Sir Watts is to hold several bilateral talks, and on the basis of amendments by successor states to the former Yugoslavia, should draft an altered text of the mentioned memorandum. A new round of negotiations is expected in the autumn. According to the head of the Croatian delegation, Bozo Marendic, negotiations could not succeed as long as the international community did not change its stance towards the succession. Sir Watts did not have an appropriate mandate enabling him to reach an agreement, which damaged the four successor states to the former Yugoslavia, he added. "Croatia does not intend to pull out of negotiations, and we shall continue to take part in them and try to find some solution", Marendic said. (hina) ha mm 041849 MET jun 97