In contrast to some previous hints, Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul said in Zagreb on 23 March that the government will not send troops to Iraq or sign a bilateral extradition-immunity agreement with Washington that would prohibit the handover of each other's citizens to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Reuters reported.

Zuzul attributed the decision on not sending troops to Iraq to unspecified "current global relations. He also attributed Zagreb's attitude toward an extradition-immunity agreement to EU opposition.

He nonetheless stressed that Croatia remains "part of the global antiterror coalition."

Zuzul, who is a former Croatian ambassador to the United States, made his remarks before departing for Washington to prepare for Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's upcoming trip to the United States.

(RFE/RL 24.iii.04)