CROATIAN SERB REFUGEE LEADERS COMMENT ON SANADER'S PLANS

BELGRADE, Jan 8 (Hina) - Representatives of Croatian Serb refugees' organisations in Serbia-Montenegro have described the new Croatian government's announcements about improvement of the position of ethnic Serbs as "a good political move, but at the moment these are only words".#L# Savo Strbac, the head of the Veritas Documentation Centre was quoted by the Beta news agency as saying on Thursday that promises which Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader gave on the improvement of Serbs' status in Croatia were more "a good marketing move by a shrewd politician rather than the expression of the genuine wish" of the premier (Sanader) and his party to engage themselves in the resolution of the problems. The leader of the society for help to refugees in Serbia-Montenegro, Milorad Muratovic, was quoted by the same agency as saying that statements of the new Croatian premier "herald a new orientation" of the Croatian government in its efforts to address problems of refugees and of the Serb minority in Croatia. He went on to say that one should not forget that there were 190,000 refugees who fled Croatia and sought shelter in Serbia and who had not yet solved any of their problems. In addition, 60,000 housing units have not yet been given back to Serbs, Muratovic said. He added that Zagreb should first give back the private property owned by Serbs, restore the tenancy rights and ensure compensation for the destroyed property of refugees. Another refugee leader, Radenko Popic, welcomed the move of PM Sanader who called on Serb refugees to return to Croatia. For Popic, the biggest problem is to restore 25,000 tenancy rights, as "Croatia cannot find its place in Europe if it fails to solve the fundamental human rights, namely the right to home". (Hina) ms sb