INTERPARLIAMENTARY UNION MISSION IN CROATIA

ZAGREB, Aug 2 (Hina) - A multi-party delegation of the Croatian Parliament, led by Chamber of Representatives speaker Zarko Domljan, met for talks with an Interparliamentary Union (IPU) mission, led by Argentinian senator Hipolito Solari Yrigoyen, in Zagreb on Tuesday, a statement said. Yrigoyen said that the IPU's 91st conference held in Paris in March this year decided that a mission should be sent to states of the former Yugoslavia which would submit a report on its visist to Zagreb, Sarajevo and Belgrade at the next conference due to be held in Copenhagen this September. The IPU is interested in conflict zones and human rights violations, in particular the problem of the so-called Krajina region, the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina and human rights violations cited in a February 1994 report of the UN special rapporteur, and the lifting of an arms embargo. Members of the Croatian Parliament objected to the use of the term Krajina and insisted it was a part of temporarily occupied territory of the Republic of Croatia. Domljan said it was an essential political question and not a question of terminology. Domljan went on to say that the Croatian Parliament supported the Washington accords and the peace proposal outlined by the international Contact Group of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in other words the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina within its internationally recognized borders. He noted that the arms embargo on Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina had not stopped the escalation of war but had established a military imbalance to the aggressor's (Serb) advantage. Member of Parliament Ljubomir Antic said that the degree of democracy and the human and minority rights situation in Croatia was satisfactory. (hina) mm vm 021732 MET aug 94