VUKOVAR, Sept 30 (Hina) - The National Confidence Building Committee chairwoman, Vesna Skare Ozbolt, on Thursday described a process of returning life back to normal in the Croatian Danube River Area as satisfactory in general. "There
are problems in those towns and villages where war crimes were committed during the Serb aggression and occupation and these difficulties cannot be solved overnight," Skare Ozbolt said. In Vukovar she attended a session on a six-week-long protest which has been taking place in Sotin, a suburb of Vukovar. This protest is being held by families of about fifty missing persons from Sotin. Present at the session, initiated by Vukovar Mayor Vladimir Stengl, were other members of the aforementioned national committee, local authorities, a delegation of Sotin returnees-protesters, Serb minority representatives as well as OSCE (Organisation for Se
VUKOVAR, Sept 30 (Hina) - The National Confidence Building
Committee chairwoman, Vesna Skare Ozbolt, on Thursday described a
process of returning life back to normal in the Croatian Danube
River Area as satisfactory in general.
"There are problems in those towns and villages where war crimes
were committed during the Serb aggression and occupation and these
difficulties cannot be solved overnight," Skare Ozbolt said.
In Vukovar she attended a session on a six-week-long protest which
has been taking place in Sotin, a suburb of Vukovar. This protest is
being held by families of about fifty missing persons from Sotin.
Present at the session, initiated by Vukovar Mayor Vladimir Stengl,
were other members of the aforementioned national committee, local
authorities, a delegation of Sotin returnees-protesters, Serb
minority representatives as well as OSCE (Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe) officials.
After the session, Skare-Ozbolt said it was obvious that both Croat
and Serb residents of Sotin had shown a wish to talk and cooperate.
We agreed that it was necessary to continue searching for missing
Sotin residents. Local Serbs, as we have heard, are willing to help
to establish the truth, as soon as possible, about some fifty killed
and buried Sotin residents, she said.
Skare Ozbolt announced that a special telephone line would soon be
introduced in the office of the head of the Government's Commission
for Missing and Detained Persons, so that persons from all over the
world can call and say anything they know about any missing person
and about mass or individual graves in war-affected Croatian areas.
Callers will be able to offer data under condition of anonymity.
Th vice-chairman of the National Confidence Building Committee and
the President of the Serb Democratic Independent Party (SDSS),
Vojislav Stanimirovic, was also satisfied with Thursday's meeting
in Vukovar.
He pointed to Sotin Serbs' wish to cooperate in the search for
missing persons. They proposed the set-up of a working group
containing families of missing Sotin residents.
Only the joint cooperation and mutual respect can bring results in
normalising life in Sotin, Stanimirovic said.
During Thursday afternoon Vesna Skare Ozbolt visited protesters in
Sotin who are gathering around the Cross in the middle of this
suburb of Vukovar.
(hina) ms