INTERVIEW OF JOSIP MANOLIC WITH ZAGREB-BASED NEWSPAPER "NEDJELJNI VJESNIK"

VJESNIK" $ ZAGREB, Nov 14 (Hina) - The Chairman of the Croatian Parliament's Chamber of Counties and the head of the Government's commission for the normalization of Croatian-Serbian relations, Josip Manolic, gave his interview with the Zagreb-based newspaper "Nedjeljni Vjesnik", issued on Sunday. Manolic said that the present experience in the Croatian-Serbian relations showed that the occupied areas in Croatia should be retrieved in a peaceful way. "That is proved by the current negotiations with the local Serbs from the UNPAs as well as by instances of the tolerant Croatian-Serbian relationship in towns and in other region of Croatia which are not directly stricken by war, and where larger groups of the Serb residents live," underlined Josip Manolic. Explaining that estimate and optimism Manolic stressed that there had been no winner in the war waged so far and that satisfactory solution both for the Serbs and for the Croatian state could not be achieved by means of force, i.e. by war. In that context Manolic said: "If Croatia resolve the problem with the Serbs in a peaceful way, we will ensure to have next tourist season. If we establish peace we can count on profit of one billion dollars from tourism. If we do not establish peace, the Croatian state has to invest at least one billion dollars into military purposes." He added that the Croatian peace initiative faced the obstacles such as "the fear of the Serbs at 'being jeopardized' on this territory because of the 'state led by the Ustashas (i.e. the nationalistic totalitarian state). Therefore, Josip Manolic considers, it should be necessary to make a turning point aimed at strengthening the dialogue between the local Serbs, who live in the UNPAs, and the Serbs outside the UNPAs. Commenting on the assertions that the Serbs in the occupied areas do not accept the reestablishment of the Croatian authorities in those areas Manolic said that "the Serb leaders in power do not hold homogenous and determined standpoint." He added that according to the present experiences the atrocities and brutalities, as the ground for the homogenization of those people in power in the occupied areas, were still making those leaders homogenized in their resistance to any kind of negotiations. Manolic said that it was important to lead such policy that could contribute to toppling the current local Serb leaders. According to Manolic "the Croatian state will have to find models of the professional policemen to deploy them in the current police cadre in the occupied areas as well as in the Army." Asked whether Milosevic had already given up from the occupied areas in Croatia, Manolic responded that Milosevic would do that when he recognized officialy and legally the borders of the Republic of Croatia. "He has not done it so far. However, some of his statement , e.g. those in Geneva, have indicated that negotiations could be lead with him, " explained Josip Manolic. Manolic expressed his opinion that it was not logical to negotiate with the Serbs on the one hand and to war against the Moslems on the other hand. He emphasized that "the issue of the Serbian-Croatian relations in Croatia must not be connected with the current situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina," because of the formal and legal reasons, since B-H is an internationally recognized state, and Croatia should communicate with it just as with any other state. "Nevertheless, we must not ignore some Croatian interests. It does not give Croatia a right to solve those relations by war but in a peaceful way. (...) Our basic request in Bosnia should be the return of all the expelled to their homes, not only the Croats but also the Serbs and the Moslems. There can be no peace unless this has been achieved," emphasized Josip Manolic in his interview with "Nedjeljni Vjesnik". 141633 MET nov 93