36TH SESSION OF CROATIAN COUNCIL FOR DEFENCE AND NATIONAL SECURITY

SECURITY $ ZAGREB, Feb 5 (Hina) - The 36th session of the Croatian Presidential Council for Defence and National Security was held on Friday night in Zagreb under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Dr Franjo Tudjman, stated the Presidential Office. The Presidential Office issued today the conclusions made on the last night's session: I The Council discussed the Presidential Statement of the U.N. Security Council (issued on the 3rd February 1994), and made conclusions that all necessary measures should be undertaken in order to explain all contentious issues, rising from that statement, to the U.N. Security Council in connection with the implementation of the demand forwarded to the Republic of Croatia, so that the U.N. Secretary-General could deliver in due time to the U.N. a relevant report, based on the facts. It was estimated that the Presidential Statement of the U.N. Security Council had been made on the ground of the unjust, and not based on the facts, report of Haris Silajdzic and on the ground of the accusations of the deployment of 30,000 members of the Croatian Army in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The demand of Silajdzic, supported by some of the Islamic countries, was made with the obvious intention to exert international pressure on the Republic of Croatia, and on all the warring factions in B-H in order to achieve a political solution. The statement, issued by the Croatian Presidential Office, emphasizes that, in accordance with its Constitution and with the Agreement on Cooperation and Partnership signed by Presidents Tudjman and Izetbegovic on the 12th of July 1992 Croatia has helped in the defence of the Croatian and the Moslem people since the beginning of the Serbian aggression, and has accepted over half a million refugees from B-H, still offering aid and care to 282,000 refugees, most of whom are Moslems. "The Presidential Council for Defence and National Security received with surprise both the accusations made by Sarajevo's Government and the Presidential Statement of the U.N.S.C., because of the fact that Croatia, according to the international factors' acknowledge, has shown the greatest cooperation in seeking a solution for the cessation of the war and in searching for a political settlement to the B-H crisis," said the statement of the Croatian Presidential Office. This statement adds that: "the (Croatian) Council holds that Croatia should continue with its peace-making policy," because of the perservence of the Croatian people in B-H and the security of the Croatian state. "In the connection with this, the Council points out the necessity that the international community should undertake more efficient steps both in order to stop the war caused by the Serbian aggression as well as to stop the offensives of the Moslem forces against the Croatian areas in B-H, especially in Central Bosnia..." where several thousand of the Croatian civilian inhabitants are endangered in some of the Croatian enclaves. "Considering the allegations of the deployment of elements of the Croatian Army in the war in B-H, the (Croatian) Council stresses the fact that the units of the Croatian Army are present in the areas near the border between B-H and Croatia- above Dubrovnik, toward Stolac and Neretva, on the defence lines toward the Serbs, what is in comformity with the above-mentioned Agreement on the Cooperation and Partnership between B-H and the Republic of Croatia. The Council reiterates that Croatia has allowed the departure up to 2000 volunteers from the Republic of Croatia, who are by origin from B-H, to offer help to their fellow-countrymen in Bosnia to protect themselves from the aggression and the ethnic cleansing. The world knows very well that these volunteers as members of the Croatian Defence Council have undertaken no operations aimed at capturing territories of the others, but that they are defending their homes...," according to today's statement. "On the contrary to these Croatian volunteers, three time more mujahhedines fundamentalists from foreign countries are fighting for the Moslem side, so that not only Croatia is worried but also Europe by the strengthening and expansion of the fundamentalism." "As regards the allegations that regular units of the Croatian Army are present in Central and southern Bosnia, the Defence Ministry of the Republic of Croatia will propose necessary steps in the conformity with the demand of the Presidential Statement of the U.N.S.C.. Croatia does not only express readiness but it also makes request that the international control be conducted into the real situation and the truthfulness of the allegations on the basis of which further conclusions of the U.N. Security Council are to be made." II The statement of the Croatian Presidential Office also announces that the Croatian Council considered the Croatian House of Representatives' Resolution on Foreign Policy adopted on the 2nd of February 1994 by which the Croatian Parliament called on the Moslems to cease "immediately and unconditionall" their offensive on the region inhabited with the Croats. If thay has not done it ,the Croatian Government is requested to reconsider "the present situation in the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and to undertake appropriate steps in accordance with the reevaluation of that situation." "The Council is calling on the immediate and unconditional cessation of fire and on the resuming of the negotiations in order to achieve a Croatian-Moslem agreement in the spirit of the Contractual Agreement on the Establishment of the Permanent and Complete Peace between the Croatian and Bosniak-Moslem Peoples in B-H and the negotiations on the grounds for the further coexistence, which were proposed by the President of the Republic (of Croatia) at the meeting with the Bosnian delegation in Bonn on the 10th of January 1994. If these efforts yield no results, Croatia should reconsider the entire relations with the Sarajevo-based Government, and the Government of the Republic of Croatia is to assume the task to make records of all representative offices and organizations of B-H that function in the Republic of Croatia. The Council thinks it impermissible that the Sarajevo-based Government can use the territory of the Republic of Croatia for the organization and logistics of its military activities which lead to expulsion and ethnical cleansing of Croats. The Council requests that the international community proclaim the endangered Croatian enclaves in B-H to be safe havens and support the guarantees for the survival of the Croatian people," according to today's statement. III It goes on as saying that: "The Council has accepted the proposal on the approach to the NATO's programme of "The Partnership for Peace" and backed the intention of the Republic of Croatia to join this process," and the Council ordered to the Foreign Ministry to elaborate the final proposal. The statement also says that the Council "as regards the issue of the transformation of the "Dalmacijacement" company, which has recently been raised connected with the trial in Italy" found out that from the Croatian side there were no improprieties which might cause negative effects for the interest of the Croatian state..." "The Council is informed of the undertaken steps in the implementation of the Declaration on the Normalization of the Relations between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, at which the immediate realization should be conducted giving no reason for speculations in this matter. The Council especially emphasizes that the agreement in principle on the normalization of the Croatian-Serbian relations is not directed against Moslems, but it should be taken as the contribution to the faster achievement of a solution to the crisis in B-H. The Council fully supports the efforts of the Government of the Republic of Croatia aimed at the solution of all the contentious issues as soon as possible with the neighbouring Republic of Slovenia, in which the Council points out the necessity that the issue of the Bay of Piran and the connection of Croatia with Europe should be simultaneously solved," says the statement of the Croatian Presidential Office issued after the 36th session of the Croatian Council for Defence and National Security. 052217 MET feb 94