Yugoslavian Leaders Relax Order to Hand in Weapons

Yugoslavia’s collective presidency said Tuesday that there would be no military action to enforce federal orders to disarm paramilitary units.

The eight-man leadership on Jan. 9 ordered all “illegal paramilitary groups” to disarm and demanded that the military enforce the vaguely worded decree.

The western republics of Croatia and Slovenia, where center-right parties ousted Communists in spring elections, have been concerned that the army, whose officer corps is heavily Communist and Serb, might try to crack down while the world focuses on the Persian Gulf War.

Hours before the expiration of a midnight Monday deadline to hand in arms, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman claimed that the army put Croatia’s special police forces into the paramilitary category that has been ordered to disarm.

The presidency, which includes federal representatives from each of the six republics and two provinces, met Tuesday in Belgrade to discuss the situation, sources said on condition of anonymity.

In a statement issued later, the presidency said the federal orders were only partially carried out, the state Tanjug news agency reported.

It said, however, that any further action to enforce the orders would take place in a peaceful, legal and democratic manner and this did not represent an attack “on the legal institutions of authority in any Yugoslav republic.”

The presidency discounted possible military action, saying in a statement that “fear of alleged intervention by the Yugoslav People’s Army” is baseless.

After returning to the Croatian capital of Zagreb, that state’s representative to the presidency, Stipe Mesic, confirmed the federal body’s position.

Earlier, the interior ministers of each republic held talks, ostensibly to discuss tightened security in Yugoslavia because of the gulf crisis. Sources said the disarmament order was also discussed but did not reveal the outcome.

Croatian police units had gone on maximum alert Monday. Heavily armed, camouflage-clad officers guarded buildings and patrolled Zagreb throughout the night.

The Croatian news agency HINA said no unusual military movements had been reported in the state, the second-largest of Yugoslavia’s republics.

Slovenia and Croatia want the squabbling federation of republics that is now Yugoslavia transformed into a loose confederation of independent states.

They claim that Communist-ruled Serbia, the largest republic, and the army are in collusion to preserve centralized Communist power. Senior military officers repeatedly deny the allegations.