REBEL SERBS HAVE UNLISTED TANKS IN EAST CROATIA

BELGRADE, March 31 (Hina) - The UN Protection Force had no evidence that Yugoslav army troops and tanks had crossed the Danube River at Batina into UN Sector East of Croatia, UNPROFOR spokesman Yuri Ceizzik told a press conference in Belgrade today. Ceizzik said that on March 17 UN military observers reported that rebel Croatian Serb forces had nine T-55 tanks and seven artillery pieces which were not on UN lists of weapons. This had prompted UNPROFOR to lodge a protest with Serb autyhorities, he added. Ciezzik said that UNPROFOR also protested because rebel Serbs times violated three times the ceasefire in Sector East where the presence of troops and tanks had been noticed in the weapons exclusion zone. Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic wrote to UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on March 27 to inform him of a Yugoslav army presence in Serb-occupied eastern Croatia. This was also the subject of an article in the Thursday issue of the US daily "New York Newsday." (hina) mm vm 311844 MET mar 95