(8 May 1995) English/Nat
Croatian forces have agreed to pull back from a confrontation with Serbs at U.N. buffer zones in eastern and southern Croatia.
APTV spoke to Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic who denied his troops shelled Serb civilians.
Yasushi Akashi, the U.N. chief envoy, spoke to reporters after holding talks with the Croatian government.
These deserted vehicles are the remains of a week of rising tensions in the Yugoslav Republics.
In a hopeful sign of a break in the clashes - Croatian forces are pulling back from confrontation with Serbs at U.N. buffer zones in tense eastern and southern Croatia.
At present, there is no immediate timetable or confirmation from the Croatian army in regards to their withdrawal.
Yet, amid fears that a small spark could set off a wider war - the Croatian Foreign Minister, Mate Ganic, is resolutely denying indiscriminate shelling of Serb civilians.
SOUNDBITE:
"Concerning the shelling of civilians, it is absolutely not so. Naturally, it can happen on the individual basis, in a crossfire or something - but definitely it was not intentional from the Croatian Army and police. "
SUPERCAPTION: Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic
SOUNDBITE:
" On the second of May, there were some acts of atrocities. That's what troops have told us. But we also had some testimonies of the refugees who are now in Banja Luka area, but other than that, later information is the Croatian police and army have rather been correct in their behavior."
SUPERCAPTION: Yasushi Akashi, Chief UN Envoy
He continued with a statement regarding territory captured by Serbs during a 1991 war was divided into four U.N. protected sectors.
SOUNDBITE:
The Croatian government has ordered its troops in the zones of the separation in sector north, sector south and sector east to withdraw from that zone because the imprisoned in the zones of separation is a violation of March 29th, 1994 ceasefire agreement. And I have conveyed this to the Knin leadership and they are also agreeable to withdraw."
SUPERCAPTION: Yasushi Akashi, Chief UN Envoy
Croatian forces this week retook the area of Western Slavonia and moved troops into U.N. buffer zones in the three other sectors.
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