SERBS TAKE 13 TANKS FROM UN-CONTROLLED ARMS DEPOT IN UNPA EAST

ZAGREB, March 9 (Hina) - In Croatia there were 219 breeches of the cease-fire agreement per day, which was an unacceptable level, since it jeopardized the 29 March 1994 Zagreb Agreement, a spokesman for UNPROFOR, Christopher Gunnes, said in Zagreb on Thursday afternoon. Serbs in UNPA Sector East started the military exercise on Tuesday and closed all roads for civilian traffic as well as for UNPROFOR vehicles, Gunnes told the press conference in the Zagreb UNPROFOR headquarters. The Serb military exercise was scheduled to last until Thursday evening, according to UNPROFOR reports. "Because of that exercise Serbs have taken 13 tanks and three armoured vehicles from an arms depot under the UN control", he said. In Sarvas, UNPA East, members of the so-called Serb military police halted a car with the UN deputy commander for UNPA Sector East on Wednesday afternoon. At that occasion 'Serb policemen' fired two bullets at the car, according to Gunnes. About 90 Serb paramilitaries and around a hundred Croatian Army soldiers had been deployed in the Zone of Separation near Sunja in Sector North, he added. They assumed the positions which both the sides had held before signing the Zagreb cease-fire agreement, and so they were now far one from another 200 metres, according to UNPROFOR reports. UN military observers reported that the Croatian Army had been recently reinforcing their defence positions on the Prevlaka, the southern Croatian border with Montenegro, Canadian Colonel Walt Natynczyk said. He added that 16 ships of the navy of the so-called Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) had done a navy exercise on Wednesday in the Montenegrin waters. Colonel Natynczyk said UNPROFOR had sent a protest letter to Croatian authorities because UN peacekeepers were not allowed to enter parts of the Zone of Separation near Turanj and Otocac, where Croatian Army soldiers were confirming their defence positions, he added. (hina) mar mms 091640 MET mar 95