NOBILO ADDRESSES SECURITY COUNCIL SESSION IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, Dec 3, (Hina) - Croatia considers that a Security Council resolution which confirms another resolution, resolution 820, could help to implement yesterday's economic reintegration agreement on the UNPA, Croatia's ambassador to the UN Mario Nobilo told a Security Council session in New York last night. The draft resolution Nobilo was commenting on says that any commodity from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), except humanitarian aid, should not be imported by Bosnia-Herzegovina or the UNPA without Croatian or Bosnian Government approval. The implementation of the agreement is possible only if UNPA and Bosnia-Herzegovina borders are closed and rebel Serbs decide to cooperate with the Croatian Government when it comes to them receiving necessary goods. In another words, the adopting of this draft resolution would politically support the economic reintegration agreement. The agreement package was firmly tied to all Security resolutions adopted until now, including resolution 820. If the Security Council did not adopt this draft resolution, resolution 820 and all other resolutions were still valid, Nobilo said. Nobilo said the two week long Bihac attack violated six UN principles and decisions including: 'no-fly zones', safe havens, international borders between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the clear mandate on humanitarian aid, and the clear responsibility towards UN personnel. Secret agreements on supplying rebel Serbs with fuel which was then used for attacks on Bihac, were continuing. Commenting on international organizations using force in Bihac, Nobilo said that the recent events may have been counterproductive. It may have only served to embolden the aggressors and demoralise Bihac civilians and defenders, he said. My Government had hoped that its permission to use Croatian airspace would serve to deter aggression, he said, but it hasn't. For this reason and because of some recent ideas on patrolling the airspace in the region my Government will future request to study closely any proposals for the use of its airspace and is now considering closely the present authorisation for the use of its airspace altogether. In the case of military use of its airspace by regional arrangements, Croatia will permit the use of its airspace for the sole purpose of implementing Security Council resolutions. At the same time we are quite aware that the use of multinational air assets may no longer be an option. If however, the international community chooses to completely withdraw from the problem of Bihac, my Government will draw the obvious conclusions. The lessons of Bihac will have wider implications. Our trust in the capacities and intentions of the international community in Croatia has come into question. Therefore the views expressed by my Defense Minister, Gojko Susak, in this regard should be taken very seriously. ( At a press conference Thursday, when Susak was asked what would happen if Bihac fell, he said 'if we see that there is a real danger of Bihac falling, we will intervene'.) Furthermore, Nobilo continued, the violation of the international border between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in respect of the developments in Bihac has not been adequately addressed by the Security Council. Such state of affairs is promoting and allowing a de facto unification of the local Croatian Serbs and Bosnian Serb parties into a single military and territorial entity. The Security Council is obligated to dispel any possibility of such a unification at this critical moment. The draft resolution will accomplish this objective, by reinforcing principles already established in resolution 820. Moreover the draft resolution would send a message that strategic resources such as fuel, directed to the local Croatian Serb party cannot be used for the benefit of Bosnian Serbs nor be used by the local Croatian Serb party to violate the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and that all arrangements to supply the local Croatian Serb party must cease, unless of course, this is approved by the Croatian Government beforehand. (Hina) jn sd 031219 MET dec 94