MARENDIC: FRY WON'T ACCEPT JUST SUCCESSION FOR A LONG TIME TO COME

ZAGREB, Sept 25 (Hina) - The Yugoslav federation of Serbia and Montenegro will not sign the latest version of an agreement on the division of assets of the former Yugoslavia, which is soon to be proposed to all the interested parties, a Croatian government official in charge of the succession project said in Zagreb on Thursday. Bozo Marendic said that the property of the former Yugoslavia would not be split among its successor states for a long time to come because of "a total lack of cooperation on Serbia's part" in negotiations. "As long as the Milosevic regime is in power, a consensus on succession should not be expected," he said. It is estimated that the joint assets of the former Yugoslav republics amounted to $100 billion at the end of 1990, with joint liabilities reaching $30 billion at most. Croatia claims a little more than 28 per cent of the amount of joint assets and is willing to assume the same percentage of liabilities. "Croatia is calling on the international community to make the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia accept the proposed agreement on succession so that the funds received could be used as soon as possible for the reconstruction of war-ravaged areas of the country and the return of refugees," Marendic said. (hina) vm mm 251625 MET sep 97