ZADAR HINTERLAND ZADAR, May 11 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and the Chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Solomon Passy, visited several towns and
villages in the hinterland of the central Adriatic town of Zadar on Tuesday to inspect the process of reconstruction of war-damaged houses and their restitution to their Serb owners.
ZADAR, May 11 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and the
Chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) and Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Solomon Passy, visited several
towns and villages in the hinterland of the central Adriatic town of
Zadar on Tuesday to inspect the process of reconstruction of
war-damaged houses and their restitution to their Serb owners.#L#
Sanader told reporters that it had been decided that any illegally
occupied houses had to be returned to their rightful owners before the
end of June and in all other cases before the end of the year.
"The process is going well and we are satisfied with it," the Prime
Minister said, adding that they had met several Serb families who had
returned to their homes which had been rebuilt.
Sanader said that in Benkovacko Selo they had also met Bosnian Croat
settlers who had until recently lived in Serb-owned houses and who had
built their own houses with the assistance of the local community and
the central government.
"My message is: the war is behind us, everything bad that happened is
behind us. We want to build a new future. We want a new future for our
citizens. We want a Croatia in which the wounds of war will heal. The
Government will do all it can to ensure every Croatian citizen an
appropriate and dignified life," the Prime Minister said.
Passy thanked the Croatian government for the warm hospitality it was
offering the OSCE mission, and said he was pleased with the huge
progress Croatia had made in overcoming the consequences of the war.
I am here to encourage your government to move on, and the OSCE is
ready to help whenever and as much as it can, Passy said.
Passy also said he was impressed with the progress Croatia was making
in negotiations with the European Union.
Announcing Croatia's candidacy for OSCE missions in other countries,
Sanader said that Croatia wanted a more active role in the OSCE.
"Croatia, as a country that is now being monitored, is slowly
switching to an active role," he said.
(Hina) vm