CROATIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY ON STATEMENT OF HELSINKI COMMITTEE

ZAGREB, Dec 30 (Hina) - In connection with a statement of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (HHO) on alleged illegal mobilization in last few weeks and some similar reports published by other Croatian human rights organizations, on behalf of the Croatian Defence Ministry Brigadier Drago Krpina denied those allegations today in the Rijeka-based "Novi list" newspaper. Brigadier Krpina said that "none of the allegations in the HHO statement are correct. According to a regular plan of Croatian Army development, a reserve brigade has been established and until now it has a quarter of targeted strength, which means that there are no 'several thousand Croatian citizens'. It is going to be decided through regular procedure where this, as well as other Croatian Army brigades, will be deployed, and at this moment it is unknown to me whether some of the men, native Bosnian Croats, will voluntarily go to Bosnia to defend the hearths of their forefathers." Brigadier Krpina noted that he didn't know anything about illegal mobilization in Croatia. He also said that no one was threatened or subjected to discipline measures. Stressing that official Croatian stand concerning Bosnia did not change, Brigadier Krpina said Croatian Foreign and Defence Ministers, Granic and Susak respectively, had made clear recently that Croatia would reexamine its views about Bosnia if Moslem forces continued combat operations in Croatian territories in central Bosnia and the Neretva River valley, because it might jeopardize strategic interests and security of the Croatian state. 302207 MET dec 93