OSCE MAINTAINS CRO ELECTORAL LEGISLATION MUST BE CHANGED

ZAGREB, Apr 21 (Hina) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Croatia on Wednesday categorically denied claims stating that some high ranking Croatian officials believed the international community was losing interest in changes to Croatia's electoral legislation. The international community maintains the changes are urgently necessary, the mission said in a statement. Speaking at a regular weekly press conference in Zagreb, OSCE spokesman Peter Palmer said the international community had not changed its standpoint regarding changes to Croatia's electoral legislation. The standpoint sticks to the demands the Council of Europe set before Croatia in 1996, Palmer said, adding the electoral law must change the part referring to separate lists for Croats living abroad. He explained the provision in question indicated the votes of one part of the electoral body were more important than other votes, while the whole situation was also a violation of the Dayton peace agreement. Speaking about security in eastern Croatia, Palmer asserted it was stable and without any major changes. Reports about increased unrest, caused by an allegedly mass return of Serbs from Yugoslavia, were exaggerated, he said. Allowing the possibility of more spontaneous Serb returns, Palmer stressed they were Croatian citizens and the return to their pre- war homes in eastern Croatia was their right. The spokesman said the OSCE Mission was aware of increased tension in eastern Croatia, which is the result of NATO's strikes against neighbouring Yugoslavia. Last week 30 ethnically-motivated incidents were registered, which is twice the number of the week before. Palmer stressed the OSCE Mission was constantly in touch with local authorities in order to make every necessary effort to keep the situation peaceful. Palmer reiterated the necessity of launching a public information campaign on conditions of obtaining reconstruction assistance, to which the Croatian government committed in its reconstruction programme. Given that the campaign had not been launched yet, and the extended deadline for submitting requests expired at the end of May, the OSCE Mission would propose to the government to extend the deadline for an additional three months after the campaign was launched. Palmer also spoke about the financial difficulties of some Croatian daily papers, which are the result of press distributor "Tisak's" unsettled debts. The OSCE spokesman hoped a change in the company's ownership would return the situation to normal, because, he said, freedom of the media is one of the OSCE Mission's chief fields of interest in Croatia. At the same press conference, the spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Mission to Croatia, Andrej Mahecic, spoke about the Kosovo refugee catastrophe. Mahecic said the mission has been cooperating with the Croatian government since the crisis began, and added it will cooperate with the government's Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees in drafting a system for the registration of refugees coming from Kosovo. A regulated registration system will enable the refugees to eventually return to their homes, Mahecic said. Croatian Premier Zlatko Matesa earlier said Croatia must comply with its international obligations and notified the UNHCR that the government had already set up a monitoring group for the Kosovo crisis. Mahecic said the UNHCR Mission had accepted the invitation to become an active member of the group, which held its first meeting on April 13. The UNHCR spokesman announced the first convoy of returnees from Yugoslavia to Croatia since the beginning of NATO's strikes would arrive on Thursday. Twenty persons will return to their pre-war homes in the areas of Sisak and Karlovac, and nine to the Knin area. (hina) ha