U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N. VISITS PREVLAKA

DUBROVNIK, 22 July (Hina) - The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, who is paying a four-day visit to Croatia, on Tuesday visited Prevlaka peninsula, Croatia's southernmost tip, bordering on Montenegro. In a statement given after the visit, Richardson said the United States would support the continuation of the U.N. presence on Prevlaka, should the issue of Prevlaka not be solved through agreement. #L# We believe that the U.N. presence is necessary to secure stability, which is in line with the Agreement on the Normalisation of Relations between Croatia and Yugoslavia, Richardson said. In the meantime, we will try and bring Croatia and Yugoslavia to agreement so that they could peacefully and successfully overcome their differences, in a way which would make the presence of U.N. monitors in the area redundant, the U.S. Ambassador said. The U.S. Ambassador praised the beauty of the Croatian coast, adding that it had been a target of unneccesary aggression and destruction. The war in the former Yugoslavia is a reminder that peace would not have been possible without the participation of the U.S., Richardson said, adding that this was the reason why the U.S. expected full cooperation from all signatories to the Dayton and Erdut agreements. Richardson left Dubrovnik for Skopje. (hina) rm mm 221454 MET jul 97