GOVERNMENT OFFICE RELEASES NEW DATA ON DISPLACED PEOPLE

( Editorial: --> 5585 ) VUKOVAR, April 8 (Hina) - Government Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees head Lovre Pejkovic announced in Vukovar on Wednesday that 76,000 Croats were still waiting to return to the Croatian Danube River region. About 20,000 Croats were waiting to return to areas liberated in the military operations "Flash" and "Storm" while about 5,000 people from the Danube region were prepared to return to other parts of Croatia, Pejkovic said. According to information from talks with Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) representatives about 24,000 people from that country have expressed a wish to return to Croatia, while the Bosnia-Herzegovina side says about 3,500 people want to return to Croatia, he said. Pejkovic also pointed out that about 37,000 people with refugee status from Bosnia were in Croatia, about 80 per cent of whom were from Bosnian Serb-controlled territory. Croatia also currently had about 1,500 people with refugee status from the FRY. He recalled that 100,000 Bosnian Croats who no longer had refugee status were also in Croatia. As they are unable to return at this moment, they have begun the process of their integration in Croatia. However that does not mean those people have refused the possibility of return or free management of their property, he said. The Croatian Government had delivered a return plan for people who had left Croatia, signed a protocol on organised return with the FRY and hopes to sign a similar agreement with the Bosnian Serb entity, Pejkovic said. (Hina) mm mb /lm 081923 MET apr 98