SERB DEMOCRATIC OFFICE OPENS IFFICE IN BENKOVAC

BENKOVAC, Nov 10 (Hina) - The Serb Democratic Forum (SDF) opened its office in the southern town of Benkovac on Friday. The office will assist Serb returnees with reintegrating into Croatian society. Present at the opening were SDF president Veljko Djakula, the president of the umbrella organisation, the Serb People's Council (SNV), Milorad Pupovac, representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Knin, representatives of the Croat Settlers Association, Benkovac's Orthodox priest Petar Jovanovic, and others. Representatives of Croatian Serb organisations said the aim of the office was to assist all refugees, as well as Bosnian Croat settlers. Pupovac said nobody from SDF and SNV had come to Benkovac to rub salt into the wounds or slow down reconstruction. An accelerated reconstruction of houses, the infrastructure, and agricultural revival will not occur without all the people in Benkovac, without Croat settlers and Serb returnees, he said. Asked by the press whether Milan Babic, one of the first leaders of a self-proclaimed Serb state in Croatia, would return to Croatia, Pupovac said Croatian Serbs did not need anybody who would obstruct their integration into Croatian society. Babic best knows how accountable he is for the suffering of Croats and Serbs in Croatia, he said. (hina) ha jn