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UN Chief Hopeful on Yugo-Croat Talks on Prevlaka - UN Security Council - Global Policy Forum UN Chief Hopeful
Reuters
on Yugo-Croat Talks on Prevlaka
January 5, 2001UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Thursday he was hopeful the new governments in Yugoslavia and Croatia could resume stalled talks over the disputed Prevlaka peninsula. "I trust that both sides will be able to resume the negotiations in the near future and find ways to bridge their differences on the disputed issue of Prevlaka," Annan said in a report on the UN military observer mission there.
The 27-member UN Mission of Observers in Prevlaka, known as UNMOP, is there to monitor the demilitarization of the peninsula, located on the Adriatic coast south of Dubrovnik, at Croatia's southern tip. While the situation in the demilitarized zone "remains calm and stable" and both sides have signaled a willingness to settle their differences through negotiations, the two sides are far apart and Annan recommended that the military observer unit there be renewed for another six months through July 15.
Most of the peninsula is controlled by Croatia but it borders Yugoslavia's republic of Montenegro and is close to its main deep-water port. The UN unit was established in February 1996 and is now commanded by Col. Graeme Williams of New Zealand.
Yugoslavia and Croatia have held four rounds of talks on the dispute to date but Annan hoped new democratic governments in both countries could make progress on the issue. While both sides have agreed to a fifth round, no meetings have been set. Annan said moves in the region toward a more stable political situation "have given rise to the hope that a climate conducive to the resumption of negotiations is being created."
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