CRO FOREIGN MINISTER: UNTAES' MANDATE MUST END

NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic on Tuesday at a UN General Assembly session evaluated that the UN peace-keeping forces in Croatia must end their mandate. "Taking into account the new reality in which Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are prepared to resolve their political, security and development problems on a bilateral basis, as two equal and sovereign states, the need for continued presence of peace-keeping forces in Croatia has come to an end", Granic pointed out. According to him, any additional extension of the UNTAES mandate in Croatia represented a risk for the return of 80,000 non- Serb refugees and displaced persons to the Danubian region. "The continued lack of progress in this area could induce both internal and external instability, and this is a matter which my Government and the international community should seek to avoid at all cost", the Croatian Foreign Minister pointed out. He also evaluated that the UN observer mission on the Prevlaka peninsula would soon become obsolete. Croatia and Yugoslavia agreed that the issue of Prevlaka be dealt with and resolved as a security matter, in accordance with the UN Charter and good neighbourly policy. "There is a need for establishing a security regime there through peaceful negotiations for mutual benefit", added Granic. He reiterated that the countries which had emerged from the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia were moving fast toward a peaceful solving of mutual problems, thus lessening the need for international mediation and that this "cannot be substituted through imposing superfluous and ambitious regional associations", Granic said. Evaluating that the process of internal stabilization in Bosnia-Herzegovina would take years, Granic said that Croatia would, in this regard, continue cooperating with the international community. Any attempt to change the constitutional definition of the Federation was unacceptable to Croatia, Granic said, adding that "the same applies to any attempts to change the present settlement of the entities through over-centralization of Bosnia-Herzegovina". Any territorial adjustment at the expense of BH or its two entities would be considered detrimental to the stability of the region in general and "shall be considered a threat to Croatia's security", said Granic. He pointed out that Croatia supported the admission of Germany and Japan into the Security Council as permanent members and the expansion of the Council up to 25 members, as well as the restructuring of the UN socio-economic sector. Croatia would be especially active in the establishment of the International Criminal Court, Croatia's Foreign Minister concluded. (hina) ha mm 242048 MET sep 96