OSCE DID NOT SUGGEST INTRODUCTION OF VISAS FOR CROATIAN CITIZENS

( Editorial: --> 4598 ) ZAGREB, Feb 25 (Hina) - Claims that the OSCE mission chief in Croatia, Tim Guldiman, had at a recent meeting with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana or on any other occasion suggested a change in the visa system between Croatia and west European countries, are false, an OSCE statement said on Wednesday. The meeting in Brussels on Monday had focused on the sea of people from the Croatian Danube River region who were looking for asylum in Norway, the statement said. According to OSCE data, between 20 to 30 persons were arriving in Norway on a daily basis. A UNHCR spokesman in Zagreb, Andrej Mahecic, said that flights between Belgrade and Oslo were overbooked. We warned that if the current trend continued, it was to be expected that the west European countries would fight it, OSCE spokesman in Zagreb, Mark Thompson, told reporters. It was possible for European countries to introduce certain measures, he added. The OSCE hopes that the strengthening of trust in the Croatian Danubian area would help avoid further consequences. There is no reason to introduce visas for Croatian citizens to travel to European Union countries, the Croatian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, adding that there were no official announcements to that effect. Furthermore, the introduction of visas would be the same as introducing a form of sanctions against Croatia, a Croatian Foreign Ministry spokesman told Hina. According to information by the Norwegian government, 700 Croatian citizens - Serbs from the Croatian Danubian area - had requested asylum in Norway this year, a spokesman for the Norwegian Justice Ministry, Mr. Allomsen, said in a phone conversation with Hina. This made certain Norwegian MPs ask the government about the introduction of visas for Croatian citizens. Foreign and justice ministries had so far replied that there was no reason for such a decision, said Allomsen. Of the said number of newly-arrived asylum-seekers, three requests had been turned down so far, the Norwegian Justice Ministry spokesman said. The authorities in Oslo would try and expedite the processing of asylum requests, said UNHCR's spokesman Mahecic. UNHCR will be informed about all cases of deportation of those people whose requests have been turned down. UNHCR believed that the granting of asylum would for the time being be premature and not justified by the current situation on the ground, Mahecic added. According to unofficial information from the Danubian region, a private agency which is based outside of Croatia is reportedly mediating in departures for third countries. After the establishment of Croatian authority and the completion of peaceful reintegration, the number of Serbs who are leaving the Danubian region has not increased. The Croatian Government's Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees does not have all official data yet, but it is estimated that the majority of Serbs from the Danubian region who wanted to leave the area, had done so before 15 January, or members of their families had done so earlier. During the process of peaceful reintegration, Croatia estimated that about 80,000 passports should be issued in the Danubian region. However, at the request of the U.N. Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia, Croatian authorities issued 125,000 passports, the Croatian Foreign Ministry's spokesman said in Zagreb on Wednesday. One of the Serb leaders from the region, Vojislav Stanimirovic, recently said that some 72,000 Serbs had lived in the region on 15 January. This would mean that passports were issued to some 50,000 people who did not or do not live in the region. Since those are mainly Serbs from that and other parts of Croatia of whom the largest part currently live in Yugoslavia or Republika Srpska, the problem of asylum-seekers in European and transatlantic countries cannot be related to the current situation in the Danubian region. The Croatian Foreign Ministry's spokesman reiterated a well-known stand of the Croatian authorities that all Croatian citizens who want to return to Croatia can do so. (hina) rm lm mm 252131 MET feb 98