SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES AGREEMENT BETWEEN YUGOSLAVIA, CROATIA

                                                            SG/SM/8551

                                                            10 December 2002

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES AGREEMENT BETWEEN YUGOSLAVIA, CROATIA

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General welcomes the signature of the Protocol between the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Government of the Republic of Croatia on the Interim Regime along the Southern Border between the Two States.  With this agreement, the two countries have taken another encouraging step towards normal, good-neighbourly relations. 

For 10 years, the United Nations Mission in Prevlaka (UNMOP) has monitored the demilitarization of the peninsula and thereby contributed to insulating it from tensions created by hostilities nearby.  The United Nations observers can now leave the area, when their mandate comes to an end on 15 December, in the full confidence that their mission has been successfully accomplished. 

The United Nations Mission in Prevlaka has demonstrated that even a small United Nations presence, properly conceived and executed, can make a positive difference.

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