NOBILO ON NEW UN MANDATE IN CROATIA

ZAGREB, March 28 (Hina) - Croatian Ambassador to the UN, Mario Nobilo, said last night the proposed new UN mandate was quite unacceptable to Croatia. Speaking in a Croatian TV current affairs show, Nobilo said Croatia would not accept the new plan unless the conditions outlined in Minister Granic's letter to the UN Secretary-General were met. Under these conditions, the name of the new operation should contain the word Croatia; the mandate should set out mechanisms of active control (not monitoring) of Croatian borders; the Vance plan was not acceptable as a legal basis for the new operation. Regarding the control of Croatian borders, Croatia insisted on the implementation of UNSC Resolution 820, namely Clause 12 which forbids the import/export of goods without the approval of the Croatian government. "This is a matter of Croatia's sovereignty and the reintegration process, and therefore the key issue in the new mandate," Nobilo said. As for the Vance plan, it was not acceptable as a legal basis for the new mandate because it would establish three sides - Knin, Belgrade and Zagreb - on an equal footing. "The draft resolution indirectly places the Croatian Government and the Knin Serbs on an equal footing, which is quite unacceptable and must be changed," Nobilo said. "We have stiffened our position regarding the draft Resolution - we are not ready to extend the UNPROFOR mandate under the conditions proposed in the Secretary-General's report," Nobilo said. "We can't go below what has been agreed upon in Copenhagen, Washington and New York," he said. Asked who had backed the draft Resolution now being considered by the Security Council, Nobilo said the Resolution was a "result of a compromise within the Contact Group." (hina) as 281055 MET mar 95