SUCCESS OF GENEVA TALKS DEPENDS ON CEASE-FIRE AGREEMENT, SAYS TUDJMAN

TUDJMAN BRIJUNI, Nov 26 (Hina) - Following an annual meeting with foreign diplomats on the island of Vanga (the Brijuni Archipelago off Istria) on Friday, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman told reporters that the talks centred on the new stage of the Geneva negotiations. "I think that the EC and the United States have got closer to taking some resolute steps. The success of the Geneva talks also depends on the signing of a cease-fire agreement by Croatian and local Serb authorities (in the UNPA) today or tomorrow. The negotiations are under way and we'll see what happens," said President Tudjman. "It seems to me that reasonable people on all sides have begun to realize it is high time peace was concluded," said the Croatian President and stressed that from the start Croatia had supported the peaceful settlement of the UNPA problem in Croatia as well as of the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Ahead of the Geneva talks we can hope that we are closer than ever before to a favourable solution. It does not mean that the first meeting in Geneva will yield results, but is important that we have managed to link the UNPA problem with the resolution of the Bosnian issue," noted President Tudjman. "Certain important international factors favoured lifting sanctions on Serbia just because Serb had granted some concessions in solving the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina," but the Croatian diplomacy managed to achieve that peace talks take into account Resolution 871, "which says that the sanctions should not be lifted unless the UNPA problem is solved," stressed President Tudjman. "We have good reasons for that because the Krajina Serbs, and the Bosnian Serbs as well, keep reiterating their intentions to unite all Serb lands, without asking themselves when in the history Krajina was a Serb land. As long as Serbia does not recognize Croatia within its borders and gives up the idea of annexing the so-called Krajina, where the Serbs are in the majority only in the Knin and Glina districts and that has been only for a few decades, relations between Serbia and Croatia cannot normalize. This means that stability in south-east Europe and the Balkans could not be established either," stressed the Croatian President, adding that "there are certain indications that the most responsible people in Belgrade are beginning to realize it." 261932 MET nov 93