PRESIDENT TUDJMAN RECEIVES US CONGRESS DELEGATION

ZAGREB, July 5 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Tuesday received a US Congress delegation, consisting of Howard Berman, Alcee Hastings, Julian Dixon, Lucille Royball-Allard, Anna Eshoo, Butler Derrick, Robert Menendez and Nancy Pelosi. The talks were also attended by US Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith. The talks focused on the problem of Croatian occupied territories under UN protection, the Contact Group plan for Bosnia- Herzegovina and other issues relative to the resolution of the crisis in former Yugoslavia, said the President's office in a statement. President Tudjman expressed apreciation for the US involvement in resolving the crisis in former Yugoslavia. For its part, the Croatian Government welcomed and signed the Washington Agreements and is endeavouring to create the conditions for ending the war and speeding up the resolution of the problem of the UNPAs. Asked to expound Croatia's official views on the extension of the UNPROFOR mandate, President Tudjman noted that 25 percent of the Croatian territory was under occupation. This area had been sized by 194 thousand people, i.e. four percent of the population of Croatia, who expelled 250,000 Croats, Hungarians, Ruthenians and other non-Serbs. In this respect, President Tudjman stressed the Government's determination not to extend the present mandate, which allowed ethnic cleansing to go on and 600 people to be killed in the UNPAs in the past two years. President Tudjman supported the US stance that the sanctions against Serbia should be linked to the situation in Croatia. UNPROFOR has failed to implement the Vance Plan, because it yielded to Serbian pressure, said President Tudjman, adding that the UN Security Council shuld consider investing UNPROFOR with wider powers. He went on to suggest that the international community should also use NATO. Asked to comment on the Contact Group proposal for Bosnia- Herzegovina, President Tudjman said Croatia was going to use its influence to encourage the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina to accept the proposal. Speaking about the possibility of lifting the arms embargo, President Tudjman said a political solution, not the spill-over of war, was the thing to aim for, even if it meant enforcing peace. 051832 MET jul 94