Franko Tudjman, the nationalist President of Croatia, has said that his government will "invite our entire people to take to arms" if Croatian sovereignty is threatened.

Radić strived to renew the Croatian sovereignty and the economic and cultural emancipation of Croatia.

For one thing, the Croatians do not trust the Serbian leaders, and saw the proposal, which included talks on re-establishing Croatian sovereignty in Krajina, as a stalling tactic.

But the fundamental conflict has always centered on the question of Croatian sovereignty in areas to which Serbs moved several centuries ago and which they regard as Serbian.

Dragan Djakovic, a Serb on a precinct election commission in the mixed-population town of Karlovac, said he would vote for Croatian sovereignty.

In February 1992 his government proposed the laws offering territorial autonomy to ethnic Serbs in Krajina in exchange for their formal recognition of Croatian sovereignty.

"I assured him of full U.S. support for restoring Croatian sovereignty to all parts of Croatia," Mr. Gore said.

During the two-year U.N. mandate, Mr. Klein facilitated the return of the demilitarized region to Croatian national sovereignty.

In the late 1990s she handled the sensitive negotiations leading to a peaceful return of Serb-occupied areas of eastern Slavonia to Croatian sovereignty.

In August 1995 Croatian forces conducted Operation Storm, ending Krajina and restoring Croatian sovereignty to international recognised borders.