UK REVOKES RECOMMENDATION TO AVOID SPLIT AIRSPACE

ZAGREB, April 19 (Hina) - The Croatian Foreign Ministry has lodged a protest over a British Transport Ministry recommendation to British air companies to avoid the airspace over Dubrovnik and Split, demanding that this recommendation be revoked, a Foreign Ministry statement said on Friday. Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic was informed of the recommendation on April 16, 1996. He immediately delivered a protest note to British Ambassador to Croatia Gavin Hewitt. British Foreign Ministry and Transport Ministry officials told Croatian Ambassador to Great Britain, Ante Cicin Sain, that the recommendation did not refer to the Dubrovnik and Split airports, but to the airspace over southern Dalmatia. The recommendation had been in force for some time but had not been reviewed after the Dayton Agreements, which considerably changed the safety situation in the area. British officials assured the Croatian Embassy that the recommendation had not been motivated by political reasons. The Croatian Embassy also received assurances that the recommendation to avoid the Split airspace had been revoked, and that the British government would urgently discuss the issue of safety of the Dubrovnik airspace and issue a new recommendation as soon as possible. The British Foreign Ministry said it would make all the necessary efforts to solve this issue, the statement concluded. (hina) ha jn 191750 MET apr 96