Arbour reports Croatia to UN
(www.cbcnews.cbc.ca)
WebPosted Wed Jul 28 17:35:04 1999

THE HAGUE - The chief prosecutor for the UN war crimes tribunal is
threatening to take Croatia before the UN Security Council.

Canadian Louise Arbour says the Croatian government is not co-operating in
the tribunal's investigation of a 1995 lightning assault against ethnic
Serbs.

"Operation Storm" which lasted four days, recovered land from central and
southern Croatia that had been held by the Serbs for four years. Over
200,000 Serbs were expelled during the operation.

Arbour says she's been trying to get information about the operation for
over three years.

Croatia says it will not hand over any information relating to the operation
because it was an internal matter and the tribunal has no jurisdiction to
investigate.

It's an argument says Arbour that's been made by others. "I'm not attempting
to make any comparison between Operation Storm and the events in Kosovo. I'm
simply pointing out that it's exactly the same legal position." Arbour says.

"The State unilaterally characterizing an event in legal terms so as to
defeat the prosecutor's entitlement to investigate."

Many people believe that an investigation of the operation could result in
the war crimes tribunal filing charges against Croatia's political leaders,
including President Franjo Tudjman.

Arbour filed her complaint with the president of the International Criminal
Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, Gabrielle Kirk McDonald.

Arbour said Croatia left her with no alternative but to request assistance
from the UN Security Council in order to complete her investigation.

She said Croatia has showed a "blatant' disregard for its international
legal obligations.

McDonald will review Arbour's complaint before deciding whether to pass it
on to the Security Council.