FORMER CAMP INMATES REMEMBER SUFFERING IN SERBIAN AGGRESSION

VUKOVAR, Aug 26 (Hina) - About 200 residents of the eastern-most town of Vukovar gathered in a gym in the Borovo Naselje district to mark the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the Croatian people's suffering in the Serbian aggression. The event was organised by the Croatian Society of Serbian Concentration Camp inmates. Welcoming the surviving inmates, the president of the society, Danijel Rehak, said some 8,000 soldiers and civilians had passed through Serbian concentration camps. About 300 were killed, while another 10,000 passed through many transit camps the aggressor's authority had established in Serbia and occupied parts of Croatia. Rehak urged the state to provide systematic and permanent care for surviving inmates and their families. He also urged providing an expert valorisation of the values of the Homeland Defence War, resuming tracing missing and detained persons, and prosecuting all war criminals. Parliament's deputy speaker Mato Arlovic told the gathered the government and parliament would do everything, regardless of the ruling party, to fully implement a law on Vukovar, the Croatian town which suffered the most damage during the Serbian aggression. The announced speech of War Veterans' Minister Ivica Pancic was met with several minutes of booing and a series of insults. Pancic said the current generation of Croats had managed to achieve what none before had, a free and independent Croatia. He ascribed immeasurable credit for it to Croatia's first president, the late Franjo Tudjman. The minister said economic and social development and territorial integrity were the authorities' priorities. A considerable number of police ensured security at the gathering, but no incidents were recorded. (hina) ha