COMMISSION ARTICLE 11 LAYS WREATHS AT OVCARA MEMORIAL SITE

VUKOVAR, Nov 12 (Hina) - Members of the Commission Article 11 and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) high representative for national minorities, Max van der Stoel, on Friday visited the Croatian Danube region, marking the anniversary of the Erdut Basic Agreement. The Basic Agreement, which envisaged the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region, was signed on November 12, 1995. The visit to the eastern Slavonia started with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Ovcara mass grave memorial site outside Vukovar. The US and Finnish Ambassadors to Croatia, William Montgomery and Osmo Lipponen (Finland is chairing the European Union) laid wreaths on behalf of the Commission. The head of the Croatian Government Office for Cooperation with the OSCE, Tomislav Vidosevic, and Vukovar-Srijem Prefect Rudolf Koenig laid wreaths on behalf of the Croatian Government. OSCE's van der Stoel should during the day meet in Vukovar with the president of the Joint Council of (Serb-dominated) Municipalities (ZVO), Milos Vojnovic, and Prefect Koenig, with whom he will discuss the status of national minorities in Vukovar County. Members of the Commission Article 11 will in Vukovar meet members of the National Trust Establishment Committee and the Government Commission for Missing and Detained Persons as well as the ZVO leaders. At the end of the visit, members of the Commission and van der Stoel will visit in Erdut where they will attend a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Basic Agreement. (hina) mm rml