'VECERNJI LIST' INTERVIEW WITH GENERAL TUS

ZAGREB, April 12 (Hina) - Croatian General Antun Tus, a military adviser to President Franjo Tudjman, gave an interview to the Zagreb-based daily VECERNJI LIST on how UNCRO is to control Croatia's state borders. General Tus says that there are 66 border crossings and some other crossings opened for pedestrians but not for vehicles on the territory currently not under Croatian control. Control forces should be stationed at 25 to 30 border crossings, while the rest was to be controlled by patrolling, monitoring and other methods, Tus said. Tus warned that the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 981 were insufficient for proper border control and therefore this issue should be tackled in detail by the operational mandate. The best operational solution would be that UNCRO armed forces work in cooperation with Croatian state authorities in charge of the border, which included the Croatian Interior Ministry and customs authorities. One of the possibilities was that these forces, i.e. police and customs authorities, be immediately involved in the cooperation with UNCRO. If this was not possible at the very beginning of this mandate, UNCRO should form such a service on its own. The service should act in accordance with Croatian legislation and work in coordination with Croatian authorities. This would eventually pave the way for the full control of the Croatian state border, Gen. Tus believed. Asked whether UNCRO could prevent incursions of commando, terrorist and other enemy groups into Croatia and ensure border protection, by merely registering passing across the border, Gen Tus said: "We think that UNCRO should help Croatia in border control, it is stated so in UN SC Resolution 981. We will urge that the operational resolution should include our border services and authorities, who will carry out that important task together with UNCRO. At the beginning they will not be deployed on the border, but we must insist that UNCRO forces cooperate with Croatian crews and in line with Croatian regulations". Besides, this Resolution and this mandate constituted an agreement between the UN and the Republic of Croatia, and thus Croatian laws were also valid, he added. Croatia could not agree that UNCRO, just like UNPROFOR used to, merely register who was passing the border and make reports on the matter. He stressed that "we will insist on preventing all military entries and exits in the areas which are not under the control of Croatian authorities. The control is much more strict along contact lines within Croatia, than on the international borders. This is not right. The international border should be firm while the contact lines should be more flexible to ensure undisturbed traffic. There will be no integration unless this was done." Gen. Tus estimated that UNCRO would need 2000 members of the UNCRO military section as well as 1000 border and customs officials for the control of Croatian borders. (hina) mms rm 121434 MET apr 95