FOUR CONTACT GROUP MEMBERS STAND BY THEIR OFFER TO MILOSEVIC

WASHINGTON/ZAGREB, May 25 (Hina) - Four of the Contact Group members stood by their decision to offer the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic the partial lifting of sanctions in return for his recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said on Wednesday. Milosevic, who in 1991 started the war for Greater Serbia, refused Contact Group's offer early this week. The Serbian leadership should know that the proposal was still on the table and it was the only offer the USA, France, Germany and Great Britain could support, Burns said. The current situation was commented last night on Croatian TV by President Tudjman's envoy to the Contact Group, Miomir Zuzul. Zuzul had had a telephone conversation with Robert Frasure who, on the behalf of the Contact Group, had offered Milosevic a gradual lifting of sanctions in return for his recognition of the states emerging after the collapse of former Yugoslavia. Frasure did not think that Milosevic's refusal meant the end to the process, but 'a break for everyone to think for a while', Zuzul said. Contact Group members hoped that Milosevic could change his mind and that negotiations, based on the proposed plan, could continue in ten days. Croatia's idea was to bring negotiations to the highest possible level. "We think that a summit involving Contact Group members should be organised and that the final agreement should be reached during that summit. After that we could concentrate on finding mechanisms for the implementation of that agreement", Zuzul said. (hina) jn rm 251325 MET may 95