GHALI SAYS UNMOS SHOULD STAY ON IN PREVLAKA

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Hina) - The UN Secretary-General recommended Tuesday that UN military observers should stay at their posts in the southernmost Croatian peninsula of Prevlaka. "Since the sides have made no further progress in settling their differences by negotiations, and since there is no alternative solution for monitoring the Prevlaka area, I consider that UN military observers should stay on to help defuse tensions," Ghali said in a report released in New York on Tuesday. Resolution 1038 of January 15 provided for a three-month mandate of UN Military Observers, with an option of extending this mandate for another three months, should the Secretary-General recommend it. Even though the situation in the peninsula was stable, both sides had fortified positions and minefields in the demilitarized strip of land on both sides of the border, the report said. Croatia's official view was that UN observers should be replaced by a OSCE mission, while Montenegro preferred the status quo. On the other hand, OSCE felt unable to undertake the responsibility for monitoring Prevlaka in the near future, the report said. (hina) jn as 131503 MET mar 96