VUKOVAR MARKS ITS DAY

VUKOVAR, May 3 (Hina) - Vukovar is being increasingly recognised as a town worthwhile of long-term investments, mayor Vladimir Stengl said on Friday on the occasion of May 3, the day of the eastern town's patron saints Philip and Jacob. #L# Speaking at a town council session, Stengl said Vukovar's residents could not but thank the government and some ministries for certain actions although, he added, many issues remained unsolved. Delegations of the town and war victims' associations paid tribute to the soldiers and civilians killed while defending Vukovar by laying wreaths and lighting candles by the town cemetery's monument to Homeland War victims. Marijan Glamocak from the Croatian Catholic Centre in Sydney, Australia, celebrated mass at the St. Philip and Jacob's parish church. Afterwards, the Vukovar Youth and Joy Procession, as the organisers named it, marched through the town. Representatives of the Serb national minority, who are back in the town's executive authority, did not attend this year's celebrations either. After the break-up of the Vukovar ruling coalition, which consisted of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Croatian Party of Rights, the responsibility for the town's future is again in the hands of the two strongest parties in Vukovar, HDZ and the Independent Democratic Serb Party. Commenting on the absence of Serb representatives from the tribute- paying to killed soldiers and civilians and the procession, deputy mayor Milos Vojnovic told reporters that even though a lot had been done to overcome the problems of Vukovar's Croats and Serbs, it was still not the right time for representatives of the Serb community to take part in such events. He added the Serbs were marking Good Friday. Around 14,000 housing units were destroyed in the Serbian aggression on Vukovar. Some 50 percent has been rebuilt. According to official data, a little over 10,000 residents have returned to pre-war homes, i.e. 50 percent of the population exiled in 1991. (hina) ha sb