Fierce battles rage in Croatia From Marcus Tanner in Belgrade SERB militants clashed with Cro- tatives of the eight constituent atian police yesterday in several parts of the country, seem like a gun battles in villages near the dead letter. It had ordered the dis- central Croatian town of Petrinja. banding of all irregular armed "It's a real battle going on," said units, except the federal army and a Croatian policeman from the the regular police force, by mid- village of Donji Cuntic, near Pet- night on 18 July. rinja. The policeman said fighting The order was immediately began after local Serb gunmen countermanded, however, by the surrounded the village police sta- President of Yugoslavia, Stipe tion early in the morning. Reports Mesic, a Croat. Shortly after sign- of the number of dead or ing the ultimatum, he said that wounded in yesterday's clashes Croatia would not obey the order could not be confirmed. Late last if it meant disbanding the repub- night it was reported that Cro- lic's paramilitary National Guard. atian militiamen retook four vil- The daily outbreaks of fresh lages from Serbian guerrillas. The violence and the deep hatred and Croatian interior minister last suspicion which mark relations week reported that 29 Croatian between the various Yugoslav Croatian villagers take part in a funeral procession for one of the many young men killed in the civil turmoil that has engulfed the breakaway republic Photograph: David Rose police had been killed since Au- republics, will create an almost gust last year in clashes between impossible task for the European "observe" a ceasefire and the Some EC leaders in Brussels nity may find itself hopelessly split servers is aware that the guaran- the situation there as precarious police and Serb militants, who are Community mission to Yugosla- withdrawal to barracks of federal have confidently described the over what is the best way to handle tees of their personal safety while and said verbal violence could es- opposed to Croatia's via, which has been charged with army units, over a three-month mission to Yugoslavia as "the a country which is rapidly heading visiting some of the "crisis zones" calate, bringing the team's work to independence from Yugoslavia. monitoring a ceasefire agreement period. In turn, Croatia and Slove- hour for Europe". But other dip- towards, and not away from, civil in Croatia are almost worthless. a halt. Civilian casualties are believed worked out by the "troika" of nia agreed to "freeze" their dec- lomats based in Belgrade are war. There is a serious rift be- Large parts of the republic are The senior Dutch diplomat Jo to be much higher. In Osijek, in European foreign ministers at larations of independence for openly wondering whether the tween Germany, which wants to under the effective control of local van der Valk said: "I don't want to eastern Croatia, more than 100 Brioni. those three months. Community hass not been pulled recognise Slovene and Croatian warlords and their militias, who speculate on the outcome, but the people were reported killed in Slovenia, Croatia and the The mission is expected to con- into a potentiality disastrous situa- independence and France, which are not responsible to anyone. situation is precarious and there is clashes between Serbs and Croats Yugoslav government ratified the centrate on monitoring events in tion, in which Brussels officials supports a united Yugoslavia, A senior Western diplomat a lot of verbal violence. in the last three months alone. terms of the Brioni agreement at the breakaway republics of Slove- will be made toi look like self-ap- mostly out of fear that any inde- said: "Some of these officials "We hope it will remain only The latest violence has made the weekend, paving the way for nia and Croatia, although the cen- pointed adjudicators in Yugosla- pendent Slovene and Croat states could get their heads blown off." verbal violence. If not, the situa- the "ultimatum" issued at the the EC mission to start its work. tral Yugoslav republic of Bosnia- via's ferocious ethnic disputes. would be German satellites. • THE HAGUE (Reuter) - tion will change drastically, and weekend by the Yugoslav presi- Under the terms of the agree- Herzegovina has asked to be Far from solving the disputes Western diplomats are wonder- The leader of the EC mission to there will be no question of con- dency, composed of represen- ment, the EC mission aims to included. raging in Yugos lavia, the Commu- ing whether the team of EC ob- Yugoslavia yesterday described tinuing the mission," he said. .