U.N. WANTS TO RENEW ITS MANDATE IN CROATIA

ZAGREB, Feb 23 (Hina) - Violations of the March 29 Cease-fire Agreement have increased in the past few days, the UN in Zagreb said today. "In the past few days, the number of cease-fire violations reached 200," spokesman Walt Natynczyk said. "But these violations did not rocket all at once after Croatia decided to end the UNPROFOR mandate - rather, we have here a tendency of slow growth since last summer, when there were practically no violations," Natynczyk said. According to spokesman Paul Risley, Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi was personally very concerned over these violations and called on the warring sides to refrain from such incidents. Asked to explain Akashi's optimistic statement after his return from Knin last Tuesday, Risley said Akashi had found Knin authorities had a "positive attitude." He added that dialogue could only be established by the sides themselves, while UNPROFOR only acted as a catalyser. He said UNPROFOR would continue to perform its regular tasks until March 31, and did not expect any major difficulties. Yasushi Akashi and other senior civilian and military officials, together with international community factors, were trying to bring about the renewal of the UNPROFOR mandate in Croatia, Risley said. If there was a way of achieving an agreement that would be acceptable to the Croatian government, Knin authorities and the international community, it would be something that the Security Council would carefully study before deciding on the UNPROFOR mandate, he added. Risley said that the options being considered included the reduction of the number of UN troops and the change of their mandate. He stressed that the decision lay with the Security Council. (hina) vm as 231523 MET feb 95