SHIP WITH WEAPONRY NO ONE WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT ENTERS PLOCE

PLOCE, Aug 30 (Hina) - The Ukrainian ship Georgy Agaconov carrying 364 tons of weaponry and military equipment entered the harbour of the south Croatian port of Ploce on Saturday after 25 days spent waiting in the nearby Neretva Canal, international shipping agency Jadroagent reported. It docked near another ship from the Ukraine, the Ivan Prokhorov, which last night entered the Ploce harbour carrying 1,700 tons of sugar for Bosnia-Herzegovina, the agency added. The Georgy Agaconov carries ten T-55 tanks, military equipment and spare tank parts which were, according to incomplete documents, loaded in Alexandria. The sender of the cargo is the Egyptian Ministry of Defense, while the unloading harbour is cited as "one of the friendly countries." The ship arrived before the Ploce harbour on 6 August, but the receiver of the military cargo did not show up in the port. It is supposed the cargo is a military donation on the part of the Egyptian government for the Equip and Train Programme the United States is carrying out in line with the Dayton Accord, but nobody seems to want to know about the cargo. The U.S. was the first to take a distance, pointing out through diplomatic sources the shipment was not intended for the mentioned programme, and would not be unloaded in Ploce. The mysterious shipment is still on the Ukrainian ship, since neither the Croatian Defense Council nor the Bosnian Army have as yet claimed it. (hina) ha 301621 MET aug 97