FOREIGN JOURNALISTS VISIT VUKOVAR

VUKOVAR, Oct 19 (Hina) - A group of foreign journalists conducting a two day visit to Croatia on Tuesday visited Vukovar where they met with representatives of the National Trust Committee and local authorities regarding the political, security and economic situation in the Croatian Danube region. The difficult circumstances in the economy is currently the most influential factor burdening the peaceful reintegration process. Both Serbs and Croats are experiencing difficulties in finding employment, committee president Vesna Skare-Ozbolt told journalists. The difficulties in mere survival is one of the main reasons for the poor return of Croats to Vukovar and for Serbs to continue to leave the town, she said. Asked if he agreed with such an evaluation the president of the Joint Council of Municipalities (with a majority Serb population) (ZVO) Milos Vojnovic said that the difficult economic-social circumstances were just part of the reason why Serbs were still moving out. "To some measure, this too is the result of political-security factors resulting from the war", he said. "Serbs fear being charged as war criminals which negatively affects their feelings of security". He said that the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and ZVO believed that war criminals should be brought to justice however, "these processes should not be used to place pressure on individuals". He added that since 1991 to date, 17,000 Serbs had left the Danube region. Responding to a journalist's question about how much the Croatian state had invested toward the reconstruction of the Danube region, Vesna Skare-Ozbolt said that this was difficult to estimate. She noted that 80 thousand houses had been reconstructed in war damaged zones. In the past eight years, US$1.7 billion had been invested toward reconstruction and peaceful reintegration. She also estimated that a further US$2.5 billion would be necessary to completely reconstruct the Danube region bringing it to its former state before the war. Speaking about the security situation in the region, Assistant Interior Minister Josko Moric emphasised that these were no different to the security situation in other sections of Croatia while Skare-Ozbolt added that there were no serious security problems in the Danube river region. "There are certain problems in those towns where war crimes were committed, or where the exhumation of mass graves are underway", she said. According to the president of the Government Commission for Detained or Missing Persons Ivan Grujic, in the past 3 and a half years, 3,087 victims of the Serb aggression have been exhumed while the search continues for 1,668 missing persons. Answering a journalist's question about the hot line recently opened in his office regarding data about mass grave sites, Grujic said that he was satisfied with the number of calls received to date and that based on these calls, several sites were being inspected as possible mass grave sites. (hina) sp jn