CROATIA ASKS FOR UN CIVIL POLICE SUPPORT GROUP IN E. SLAVONIA

( Editorial: --> 3361 ) ZAGREB, 24 Nov (Hina) - Croatia has proposed that a monitoring mission of the UN civil police remain in eastern Slavonia nine months at most after the withdrawal of the U.N. Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES), Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader said in Zagreb Monday. Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic sent on behalf of the Croatian Government a letter to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, suggesting that a UN civil police support group remain in a monitoring mission in the Croatian Danube river region after the completion of the UNTAES mandate on 15 January 1998. Sanader handed a copy of the letter to ambassadors of the U.N. Security Council member-countries, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and European Union accredited in Zagreb. "We have proposed that the so-called UN civil police support group ....which would have....a one-term mandate ....remain in the Croatian Danube river region along with OSCE monitors, for some time, up to nine months at most, or even for a shorter period of time....in a period when Croatia will definitely take over authority in the region," Sanader told reporters after the meeting. The proposal was a sign of 'Croatia's willingness to cooperate' but also 'a warning to all those who could possibly fail to accept that new reality appropriately', said Sanader. "In our opinion, the support group should be limited only to the Croatian Danube river region and be solely of monitoring and not executive character," he said. "We are to negotiate about the mandate yet....in any case, it would have a monitoring character and we believe (it will include) up to 180 people," said Sanader, commenting on what kind of mandate the support group would have and how many people it would include. The United States welcomes the proposal and will work with its partners in the Security Council with the aim of securing its implementation, said U.S. Ambassador Peter Galbraith. The task of the support group would be to secure professional work of the police and security for all people in the Danube river region after UNTAES's withdrawal. The United States will support the proposal before the U.N. Security Council, Galbraith said. Croatia devised the proposal on its own, in cooperation with UNTAES, in order to meet this need, Galbraith said, commending the Croatian Government for its subtle and constructive approach to this question. Asked whether he agreed with Croatia's proposal that the support group remain in the area up to nine months at most, Galbraith said nine months seemed a reasonable period of time, but that estimates should be made in accordance with the development of the situation in the area. The duration of the international presence in the Croatian Danube river region would depend on the constructive approach of the Croatian Government to the question of human rights of local Serbs and the unobstructed return of Croat displaced persons to the area, Galbraith said. Croatia expects the UNTAES mandate to end successfully on 15 January, 1998 and its expectations have been confirmed by the Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia, William Walker, in a series of statements. The Croatian Government expects U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to support the completion of the UNTAES mandate on 15 January and the new mission of the U.N. civil police support group, in a report he is to submit to the Security Council on 8 December. (hina) jn rm 241650 MET nov 97