U.S. GETS MORE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN EX-YUGOSLAVIA SUCCESSION PROCESS

PROCESS $ WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Hina) - The US administration on Monday called on all successor states to the former Yugoslavia, particularly the Yugoslav federation of Serbia and Montenegro, to cooperate in negotiations on succession, rejecting claims by the Belgrade government that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) was the sole successor. The United States will explore ways of assisting special negotiator Sir Arthur Watts in resolving open succession issues among the successor states, the State Department said in a statement, urging all the successor states of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and in particular the FRY, to cooperate with the special negotiator. In conformity with customary international law, the United States considers all five successor states -- Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia -- as equal successors to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the statement said. In this view the US is joined by the international community, it added. The State Department stressed that the outer wall of sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro would remain fully in force. The US does not intend to normalise relations with Belgrade and will continue to block the FRY's access to international organisations, including the United Nations, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Progress in the issues of succession remains crucial for maintaining the outer wall of sanctions, the State Department said, assessing that Belgrade continues to be the main obstacle to progress towards the resolution of the succession issue. As part of US efforts to protect the assets of successor states, the US government intends to work on the reconstruction of Yugoslav banks' records to determine the amount of existing assets and liabilities. (hina) vm mm 301122 MET sep 97