CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SPEAKS ABOUT RETURN OF REFUGEES

( Editorial: --> 1646 ) STRASBOURG, May 5 (Hina) - The Croatian Government will this week discuss criticism by the international community about the recently adopted procedure for the individual return of persons who have left Croatia, Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic said in Strasbourg on Tuesday. Granic spoke at the 102nd session of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers. "After the Government adopted the procedure for return last week, it will draft a precise programme of return and care, with the cooperation of relevant international organisations," Granic said in his speech. On April 27 the Croatian Government adopted a procedure for the individual return of people who had left Croatia, which was criticised by the international community, including the Article 11 Commission, days later. Stressing that Croatia had done "absolutely more than any other country in the region" in the area of return of refugees, Granic said 35,500 citizens of Serb nationality had returned to Croatia since mid-1995. There are still 40,000 Croatian Serb refugees in the Bosnian Serb entity, of whom 5,000 have expressed a wish to return to Croatia. "Croatia will not set obstacles for their return," Granic said. He said that the Government had adopted legislative measures confirming the inviolability of private property and full implementation of the Law Adjustment Act and the Amnesty Act, in order to facilitate the process of return. Granic stressed that the problem of war crimes suspects who were still at large was also connected to the issue of return. "War crimes committed during the aggression on Croatia definitely pose a psychological barrier for the return, especially because only one person indicted of war crimes is in The Hague, while the others are still free," he said. Speaking about the situation in south-eastern Europe, Granic reiterated that Croatia had a firm interest in achieving peace and stability in this part of Europe, and thus clearly advocated the implementation of the Dayton peace accords, the improvement of bilateral relations with neighbouring countries, and condemned violence and the use of force in Kosovo. (hina) lm as /mb 051445 MET may 98