MIXED REACTIONS TO THREATS AGAINST SUBOTICA HUNGARIANS & CROATS

SUBOTICA, Jan 17 (Hina) - Mayor of the northern town of Subotica in the Yugoslav region of Vojvodina, said he had received a letter in which unknown senders threatened to kill him, persecute ethnic Hungarians and lynch ethnic Croatians. Several local political parties and organisations reacted upon this statement of Mayor Jozsef Kasza on Tuesday. Leaders of the Serb Radical Party in Subotica accused Mayor Kasza that he sent such a letter to himself by e-mail on his own, to show how he and other ethnic Hungarians were exposed to increasingly severe criticism of the organisation called 'Otpor (Resistance)', which gathered young people who recently helped launched changes in authority in Yugoslavia. The 'Resistance' organisation is accusing Kasza of abuse of office and graft. The 'Resistance' movement, the Democratic Party and an expert group 'G17', responded in a similar manner as radicals. The said organisations and parties support activities aimed at discovering cases of the embezzlement of the state-owned property and money ensured for a local budget. Another organisation called 'Association of Citizens of Subotica' warned, however, that the conduct of new authorities - the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) - was turning to be more and more similar to the rule of the ousted regime. The Croatian Academician Society in Subotica called on Serbian intellectuals, democrats and non-governmental organisations to distance themselves from threats issued against Croats and Hungarians and raise their voice against ethnic and politically- motivated incidents. (hina) sb ms