CROATIA PROTESTS DISTRIBUTION OF TRUMPED-UP SERB PROPAGANDA

ZAGREB, Apr 7 (Hina) - Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister, Ivo Sanader, today made a formal protest to the charge d'affaires at Yugoslav office in Zagreb, Dragan Veselinovic, in the absence of Office Head Veljko Knezevic. The protest was over a "Memorandum on Violations of Rights of Serbs in Croatia," a piece of propaganda published in Belgrade and distributed, among others, by the Zagreb Office. Sanader said that the "Memorandum" contained fabrications about non-existent violations of rights of Serbs in Croatia. As the "Memorandum" had been distributed to international bodies, the Croatian Government would forward its official reply to all relevant international human and minority rights bodies - with which, unlike Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia maintained close links, Sanader said. Such a deliberate distortion of truth by Belgrade could only be aimed at impeding the normalisation of overall Croatian-Serbian relations and stalling the process of peaceful reintegration in line with UNSC Resolution 981, Sanader said. (hina) mm as 072010 MET apr 95