40 000 DISPLACED PERSONS EXPECTED TO RETURN TO E. CROATIA

( Editorial: --> 5058 ) OSIJEK, Feb 27 (Hina) - By September this year, about 40,000 displaced persons will be able to return to the Croatian Danube River region, said Development and Reconstruction Minister Jure Radic in Osijek on Friday. Radic visited the Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem Counties, parts of which were under UN transitional authority up until 15 January. He said at a meeting with county leaders that the "aim of the visit is to promote and hasten the two-way return". Radic announced that the reconstruction of 3,000 houses, which were completely demolished during the Serbian aggression, would commence shortly. One thousand houses would be built in Vukovar, 1,000 in other parts of the Vukovar-Srijem County and 1,000 in the Osijek-Baranja County, he said. In both these counties, 1,200 damaged houses are being reconstructed, of these 600 are in Baranja, said Radic. The houses will be reconstructed very soon and furnished immediately, which will speed up the return of families, said Radic. According to data gathered by regional offices for displaced persons and refugees in the Danubian region, 1,100 Serb families want to return to other parts of Croatia, 1,100 families want to regulate their status by selling their property through the Agency for Facilitating Real Estate Transactions and leave Croatia, while 400 families wish to remain in the Danubian Region. The Serb families who requested to return to other parts of Croatia should be enabled to do so immediately, Radic said. Temporary accommodation will be secured for families wishing to stay in the Danubian Region, who are presently living in Croat houses. Minister Radic expects the donors' conference, which will be held in Vukovar at the end of April, to collect more than DM 5 billion worth of international aid for the reconstruction of the Croatian Danube River region. "The international community, which is always keeping an eye on us, will be able to show how much it really intends to help us", said Radic. (hina) jn mrb 271655 MET feb 98