OWEN, STOLTENBERG REPORT TO GHALI ON YUGOSLAV BORDER CONTROL

NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Hina) - Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) was fulfilling its obligation to close its borders to traffic with the Serb-occupied parts of Bosnia, the co-chairmen of the International Conference on Former Yugoslavia, David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg, said today in their report to UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali. The report, which covers a period of thirty days, was also forwarded to the UN Security Council. Describing the cooperation with Yugoslav authorities as "satisfactory," the co-chairmen said that the "control of the Drina River was efficient, resulting in the seizure of a considerable amount of fuel" and that the Montenegrin border was also successfully sealed. The co-chairmen strongly negatived reports of smuggling across the Yugoslav border, stressing that the border was being supervised on a round-the-clock basis. The report said the cutting of oil supplies to rebel Serbs in Croatia helped speed up the implementation of the Dec 2 Economic Agreement between the Croatian Government and Knin Serb representatives. Aware of attempts to stall the implementation of the Agreement, the co-chairmen on Dec 19 ordered fuel shipments to UN Protected Areas in Croatia to be withheld, which prompted the opening of the Zagreb-Lipovac highway through Sector West on Dec 21. The report also commented on "repeated warnings" against the violation of UN Security Council Resolution 820, which forbade the import and transit of goods across Serb-held areas in Croatia and Bosnia except for shipments cleared by the Croatian or the Bosnian government, and relief aid shipments. According to the chairmen's interpretation of the provision in question, the role of the Croatian government was limited to making sure that no shipments were delivered to Bosnian Serbs across the UNPAs in Croatia without clearance from the Bosnian Government. The Croatian government has repeatedly warned that UNPA-bound fuel trucks crossed the Yugoslav border several times a week, in violation of Resolution 820. Anyway, the paragraph in question should not be judged on its legal merits alone, because of its "political aspects" which were of "vital importance," the report said. The report also described a night transport of rebel Knin Serb troops from Bosnia into Serbia. "On the night of Dec 26, 14 buses full of soldiers crossed from Bosnia into Serbia at Sremska Raca. Because of the dark, the observers were not able to see what, if any, military emblems they were wearing. Subsequent reports to the Mission Coordinator from reliable sources showed that the troops in question were Serbs from Croatia's Sector East returning from a mission in UN Sector South," the report said. (hina) as 062033 MET jan 95