SARINIC AND AKASHI SATISFIED WITH DEVELOPMENTS ON THE GROUND

ZAGREB, May 16 (Hina) - Croatian President's chief-of-staff Hrvoje Sarinic and UN Secretary-General's special envoy Yasushi Akashi said today they were pleased with the situation in western Slavonia and with the relations between Croatia and the United Nations peacekeepers. They expressed their satisfaction after their two- hour-long talks in Zagreb on Tuesday. They were also satisfied with the developments in former Sectors South, North and East. Hrvoje Sarinic believed that the situation in general was improving in the area. According to him, a document on the status of the UNCRO forces in Croatia signed on Monday reflects the improvement. Sarinic said the withdrawal of Croatian forces from the zone of separation to "positions in Sectors South, North and East where they had been before 05:30 am May 1, 1995" practically finished at the moment he spoke with journalists, and that was shortly after 05:00 pm today. In this regard Sarinic said he had got guarantees from Akashi that the UNCRO forces would control the zone of separation so that Serbs might not capture those points on the ground previously left by Croatian troops. Assessing the relations between Croatia and UNCRO Yasushi Akashi said there were no major disagreements currently. He told journalists that he and Sarinic had discussed the human rights in western Slavonia, and emphasized that he got assurances that UN officials and other international organizations would be allowed to have "full access to process of lodging charges and trial" of arrested Serbs from western Slavonia, who would be tried by the Republic of Croatia for war crimes. Commenting on the UNCRO mandate in western Slavonia Sarinic said "status (of UNCRO) in western Slavonia will not be identical with the status in the other three sectors." Sarinic said Croatia was still "absolutely ready for negotiations" with Knin Serb representatives on the normalization all relations. "However, in this respect the situation must be clarified so that we can know who really represents Croatian Serbs and with whom we shall negotiate," he added. Akashi is travelling to Knin on Wednesday to talk with local Serb authorities about the resumption of negotiations on economic and political issues between the Croatian Government and local Serb leadership. A statement by the Croatian President's Office on today's Sarinic-Akashi talks said that Sarinic informed Akashi about the closure of all three centres for captives in Pozega, Bjelovar and Varazdin, where Serb paramilitaries from western Slavonia had been accommodated. During the talks Sarinic again emphasized the plight of Croats in eastern Croatia and said the ethnic cleansing of Croatian residents from the Serb-held Banja Luka area continued, according to the statement. Sarinic demanded that the international community and the UN do their best to stop terror over Croats in those regions, according to the statement. (hina) jn mms 162039 MET may 95