PRESS CONFERENCE OF PRESIDENT TUDJMAN

ZAGREB, Sep 7 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman said at today's regular press conference that Croatia would not allow further postponements of the reintegration of the occupied areas into the Croatian constitutional and legal system. President Tudjman stressed that the key to the problem on the occupied areas was in Belgrade, and he resolutely requested that the implementation of the Vance Plan and the UN Security Council resolutions should start. He added that Croatia would persist on sanctions against Serbia until the problem on the occupied Croatian areas is solved. President Tudjman rejected a possibility of the extension of UNPROFOR's mandate until past resolutions of the UN Security Council are implemented and guarantees on the reintegration of the occupied areas into Croatia's constitutional and legal system are given. A settlement of the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina depends on a concrete situation there, but it also depends on engaging and decisions of international factors, stressed President Tudjman. "I can say with full responsibility that the Croat leadership in Bosnia-Herzegovina supports the implementation of the Washington agreements. If there is a resistance among Bosnian Croats, that are secondary and separate cases," said President Tudjman adding that the Moslem side also has such separate cases. President Tudjman announced that he would meet with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and with the Croat and Bosniac delegations on 13 September. All open issues are expected to be discussed at the meeting. Asked to answer the question whether he supports lifting of arms embargo for Bosnia and Croatia or not, President Tudjman reiterated that since the beginning of the war, Croatia had supported a peaceful solution. "If there is no other solution, then every nation has the right to defence. I think that everything should be done in order to prevent the escalation of the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina," emphasized President Tudjman. Asked if he is explicitly demanding at the UN General Assembly that peace-keeping forces protect Croatia's borders in the future mandate, President Tudjman said that he would clearly request for the reintegration of the occupied areas into Croatia's constitutional and legal system. "We are going to bring the policy with allies, who recommend us not to provoke a conflict, to the accord. But if political efforts are useless, we are surely going to take steps necessary for the implementation of our legitimate requests, as we showed on the example of Maslenica, with assistance and understanding of the international community," said the President. Answering the question on taking of dual citizenship in Istria, President Tudjman said that it was one of more perfidious methods aimed at destabilizing the Croatian authorities in the area. (hina) mm ks 071933 MET sep 94