Yugoslav Army Is Ordered to Restore Peace in Croatia : Ethnic strife: Federal leaders call in troops. The Croatian president vows to keep his militia armed.

By CAROL J. WILLIAMS

May 10, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ZAGREB, Yugoslavia — Federal leaders ordered the army to restore peace in Croatia after ethnic violence that has killed 20 people, but republic President Franjo Tudjman made clear Thursday that he has no intention of disarming or withdrawing his militia.

The collective state presidency hatched the peace plan during a marathon three-day session as the federal army deployed troops and tanks in what some feared was preparation for a military coup

While the six-point agreement was cast by republic leaders as a major step forward, Croatian authorities said its main attraction is buying time in the bitter conflict that threatens Yugoslavia with an ethnic conflagration.

Serbian politicians in Belgrade also praised the agreement as a breakthrough, then repeated militant demands for liberation of fellow Serbs in Croatia from what they called “open terrorism.”

The plan to quell violence that some officials have said was the onset of civil war allows the leaders of the rival republics of Serbia and Croatia to claim political victories in their nationalist standoff. But it appeared to offer little hope of a long-term solution to Yugoslavia’s crisis.

In a statement many saw as a threatened military coup, Army Chief of Staff Blagoje Adzic warned earlier this week that his Serbian-commanded forces would take matters into their own hands if federal authorities failed to end the bloodletting.

The presidential peace plan was crafted without consultation with the army and fell far short of its demand for martial law.

The eight-member presidency, which nominally commands the military, issued similar orders for disarming Croatian reservists and demobilization of militia units in January. Those orders were never carried out because hard-line Communist generals insisted that a state of emergency had to be declared to allow soldiers to seize weapons from Croatian police.

Croatian forces have been ordered by Tudjman’s government to forcefully resist any military moves to disarm them, threatening widespread clashes between soldiers and policemen.

Declaration of a state of emergency, as sought by the army, would give military orders precedence over those of republic and federal governments, effectively imposing martial law.

Thursday’s agreement among the presidential representatives from each republic provided some breakthroughs, as it won Croatian endorsement for army involvement and promises that citizen barricades blocking tank movements would be removed.

But at a press conference in this republic capital after the compromise was achieved, Tudjman said that he would not allow soldiers to disarm his police and that he would demobilize as circumstances in Croatia warranted.

“Croatia has full rights in what it has done in arming its active and reserve police forces,” Tudjman insisted. “If we hadn’t done so, we would not have been successful in defending democracy in Croatia.”

The presidency also authorized the army to move deeper into Croatian territory to deter new outbreaks of violence.

Tudjman said army actions that respect Croatian sovereignty and contribute to peacekeeping will be welcomed, but he warned that any move to overrule Croatian policemen will be seen as “an attempt at conquering Croatia.”

Darko Bekic, one of Tudjman’s chief political advisers, said the presidential security plan is acceptable because it is “not a purely military solution.” But in an understated qualification, Bekic noted there are two problems with the order: “interpretation and practical implementation.”

The presidential declaration met with a similarly ambivalent reaction in Serbia, where Communist President Slobodan Milosevic welcomed it as a “step toward a political solution.” As he issued his modest praise, nationalist lawmakers demanded formation of a Serbian army to fight Croats for control of ethnically mixed regions.

Nearly 600,000 Serbs live in Croatia, a republic of 5 million, and about one-third of them populate the area known as Krajina that stretches from the Adriatic coast to the Hungarian border, roughly following what was the border between the Turkish and Austrian empires until early in the century.

Croatia has joined the neighboring republic of Slovenia in attempts to secede from Yugoslavia, having given up on prospects for salvaging the federation racked by religious, cultural and ideological strife.

Serbia opposes independence for Croatia because that would divide the Serbian people between two countries. Croats accuse Serbia of stirring rebellion in Krajina in an attempt to annex the territory to a Greater Serbia.

A federal statement Wednesday said the government will not allow any shift of internal borders.

Other provisions of the agreement, which set a one-month deadline for implementation, include a call for talks between the Zagreb leadership and representatives of the Serbian minority.

Croatian authorities are ready to meet with “legally elected representatives” of Croatian Serbs, Tudjman said. But he disqualified the chief Serbian political leader, Milan Babic of Knin, whom he described as a “terrorist.”