CROATIA CALLS FOR ARREST OF PERPETRATORS OF CRIMES OVER BH CROATS

( Editorial: --> 9805 ) WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Hina) - Croatian Ambassador to the United Nations Ivan Simonovic on Friday called on the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague to initiate proceedings against the perpetrators of crimes against Bosnian Croats. It is crucial for the peace process that the tribunal should reflect better the level of involvement and the degree of responsibility of various parties to the conflict, Simonovic told a UN Security Council session which discussed the situation in Bosnia- Herzegovina on Thursday and Friday. Simonovic drew attention to the fact that despite assessments by foreign sources that Bosnian Croats and Moslems were responsible for about 10 per cent of the crimes and Bosnian Serbs for 90 per cent, at this moment 73 per cent of arrested war crimes suspects were Bosnian Croats. What's more, despite ample evidence, there is not a single indictment in sight for crimes committed against Bosnian Croats. The Croatian government insists that the tribunal take action with regard to those crimes, he said. Considering the latest arrest of two Bosnian Croats, we want to confirm that in an attempt to avoid the risk associated with the use of force, Croatia partly encouraged the voluntary surrender of the accused. Simonovic recalled that architects of ethnic cleansing were walking freely in Serbia and Serb-controlled Bosnia-Herzegovina. General Mladic attends sporting events in Belgrade, associating with former and present senior Yugoslav army officers some of whom are responsible for crimes committed in Vukovar. Radovan Karadzic, pulling strings in the Bosnian Serb Republic from Pale, has given a television interview. Milan Martic, who ordered the bombing of Zagreb and was accused of that crime by the tribunal, lives in a villa in the immediate vicinity of the SFOR headquarters in Banja Luka, the ambassador said. (hina) vm mm 192110 MET dec 97