BOSNIAN MOSLEMS' ACCESS TO SEA SHOULD BE SOLVED THROUGH NEGOTIATIONS, SAYS HOGG

NEGOTIATIONS, SAYS HOGG ZAGREB, Dec 23 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman received State Secretary at the British Foreign Office Douglas Hogg on Thursday. Following the talks, Minister Hogg told reporters the talks with President Tudjman centred on the situation in the UN Protected Areas, access for the Bosnian Moslems to the sea and free flow of humanitarian assistance into Bosnia-Herzegovina. He said he got the impression that President Tudjman found the normalization of Croato-Serbian relations a crucial issue and that he (the president) hoped to normalize those relations in the UNPAs very soon. Speaking of the problem of granting the Moslems access to the sea, Minister Hogg said there were two legitimate requests in point. The first one, he said, came from the Croatian government "to ensure a safe passage between two parts of Croatia," and the second from the Bosnian government, which wanted to "ensure safe access to the sea." He said he realized during the talks that President Tudjman thought that (the port of) Neum was far from being a solution easy to accept. Minister Hogg added that on the other hand Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic found Prevlaka (southernmost tip of Croatia) an unacceptable solution. Therefore, no agreement had been reached on that issue, said Mr Hogg, stressing that it would be possible if both sides wanted peace. Asked to comment on objections to the behaviour of UN British peace keepers escorting a humanitarian convoy from Nova Bila, Mr Hogg said they had done all they could to protect the convoy. 231359 MET dec 93