PRESIDENT TUDJMAN RECEIVES AKASHI

ZAGREB, March 3 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman today received the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General and coordinator of the UN Protection Force for former Yugoslavia, Yasushi Akashi accompanied by associates, the Office of the President said in a statement on Thursday. Recalling that the UNPROFOR mandate in Croatia expired at the end of this month, Tudjman said that Croatia would not agree to renew the mandate under present conditions. President Tudjman stressed that the world backed the reintegration of the UNPAs into the constitutional and legal system of the Republic of Croatia, and that in its future mandate UNPROFOR needed more authority, particularly in implementing Resolution 769 on the control of borders and Resolution 871 which confirms the Croatian sovereignty in the UNPA zones, as well as the return of 250,000 displaced persons to their homes. Tudjman said that the UNPROFOR control of the UNPAs was not sufficient, which could be proved by the latest example of downing of four Serb military aircraft which had taken off from the UNPA in Croatia. Akashi said that UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali would submit a report to the Security Council later this month on the implementation of the UNPROFOR mandate in Croatia. Speaking of the Croat-Muslim agreement signed in Washington, Tudjman said that the entire geo-political situation changed and that the next international and Croatian efforts would be aimed at solving the problem of reintegration of the UN protected areas. Concerning the Washington agreement, Akashi was interested in its effect on the position of Bosnian Serbs. Tudjman replied that the agreement was not against the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Croatian president stressed that the problem was not only territorial delimitation of the three peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the division between the West and the East whose interests had always clashed in these areas, the statement concluded. 031606 MET mar 94