VUKOVAR MARKS END OF OSCE MONITORING MISSION TO CROATIA

VUKOVAR, Oct 23 (Hina) - A celebration was held in the eastern-most town of Vukovar on Monday to mark the end of the OSCE Monitoring Mission police mandate in eastern Croatia on 31 Oct. Addressing the present, the head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Mission to Croatia, Bernard Poncet, said that regardless of the hard crimes committed during last decade's conflicts, the international community and Croatia's authorities had invested joint efforts to reinstate the spirit of law and halt violence in eastern-most Croatia. Recalling the conclusions OSCE's Permanent Council reached on Sept. 21 to the effect that there was no longer need for a police monitoring unit to stay in Croatia as a separate unit within the organisation's mission here, Ambassador Poncet said this confirmed that security in eastern-most Croatia was stable. It is, however, still fragile and the OSCE Mission has been authorised to resume with monitoring and advisory activities in eastern-most and elsewhere in Croatia. Poncet has no doubt that cooperation with Croatian authorities will result in stronger inter-ethnic and citizen-police confidence. The spirit of law does not only mean putting an end to violence, but also establishing principles under which a crime is not attributed to a community but to individuals who committed it, said Poncet. He added this stance should become a priority in the judiciary as well as in police activities. "We see the OSCE Permanent Council decision as the international community's acknowledgement of our constant work," said Assistant Interior Minister Ljubomir Radic. He added security in eastern- most Croatia was better, with less crime than elsewhere in Croatia. (hina) ha jn