CROATIA: CROATIAN CONVOY VIOLATES UN WEAPON FREE ZONE

Описание: (10 Nov 1995) NAT SOUND

The U-N claims Croatian troops have moved heavy artillery near rebel Serbs, violating a U-N weapons-free zone.

The move heightens chances of new fighting in Croatia's easternmost region.

President Franjo Tudjman warned this week his army would forcibly retake eastern Slavonia, if no deal allowing for renewed Croatian control was reached by 30 November.

As night fell just outside Zagreb, the Croatians began moving troops and military equipment.

A military convoy left the city with a police escort and took the main highway in the direction of eastern Slavonia - the only remaining Serb-held territory in Croatia.

The equipment on the trucks belongs to the First Croatian army brigade, known as the Tigers.

U-N spokesman Douglas Coffman said the Croatians moved some troops with heavy artillery into a 10 kilometre (six mile) heavy weapons exclusion zone bordering a smaller strip of land where troops from both sides are banned.

He said the incursion was a "severe" violation of a ceasefire meant to keep the two sides apart until they agree on the fate of Eastern Slavonia.

But a U-N military spokesman in Zagreb said only a small number of troops were involved in the move.

This would suggest the deployments are a show of force rather than preparations for attack.

On Wednesday, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman warned again that if no negotiated settlement was found for Eastern Slavonia, it would be retaken by force.

In May and August offensives, Tudjman's troops recaptured most Serb-held territory taken in 1991.

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