U.N. HAS NO EVIDENCE OF YUGOSLAV ARMY PRESENCE IN EAST CROATIA

ZAGREB, March 30 (Hina) - The UN did not have evidence of a Yugoslav army presence in UN Sector East of Croatia, UNPROFOR spokesman Christopher Gunnes today told a press conference in Zagreb. As regards allegations by Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic in a letter to UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, UNPROFOR did not find evidence that Yugoslav army troops had crossed a bridge at Batina into UN Sector East, Gunnes added. US Colonel Gary Bauleke, also at a press conference, said that the presence of Yugoslav army forces in eastern Croatia was still being investigated. He added that in the past three weeks UN peackeepers had not noticed military personnel or equipment entering UN Sector East from Bosnia or Serbia. Gunnes said that on March 17, UN military reported the presence of T-55 tanks and artillery pieces which had not been on the list of Serb heavy weapons in the UN protected areas at the time the Zagreb ceasefire agreement had been signed. Bauleke said it was possible that the equipment had been well hidden in the UNPA or smuggled from Serbia. Commenting on letters which the UN special envoy to former Yugoslavia, Yasushi Akashi, on Monday and Tuesday sent to the head of the Croatian government delegation for UNPROFOR, Hrvoje Sarinic, Gunnes said that UNPA Serb authorities had given assurances that unauthorized men in uniform would no longer be present along the Zagreb-Lipovac highway and that UNPROFOR personnel would not be obstructed in conducting their duties. Gunnes said that rocks and car tyres had been piled across the highway at 3 am yesterday. He added that UN civilian police had removed the obstacles and that the investigation was under way. In a letter to Sarinic, Akashi protested against an incident which had occurred on March 26 on Prevlaka peninsula, southernmost tip of Croatia. In the evening hours last Sunday UN military observers found two members of the Croatian special police on the peninsula. Later that night, not far from the spot where the two police office had been found, UN personnel came across telescopic equipment, seven sleeping bags, telephone lines and anti-tank weapons, Gunnes said. Akashi expressed concern over the situation on Prevlaka, according to Gunnes. Akashi also informed Sarinic that the Yugoslav navy had given up plans to conduct three-day exercises on March 29-31 in the nearby waters. Gunnes said that Knin Serbs yesterday arrested a British national travelling with a humanitarian aid convoy, sponsored by the Women of the World, to the Bihac pocket of northwestern Bosnia. (hina) mm vm 301805 MET mar 95