US AMBASSADOR SPEAKS TO PRESS ON BEHALF OF ARTICLE 11 COMMISSION

( Editorial: --> 5419 ) VUKOVAR, May 20 (Hina) - It is positive that the Croatian government has addressed Article 11 Commission standpoints concerning refugee return procedures, the codification of the municipal border changes and the multiethnic representation in various levels of government, members of the Commission told reporters in Vukovar, eastern Croatia, Wednesday. Today, they visited the Danube river region of eastern Croatia where they held separate talks with representatives of local government and self-government, members of the National Trust Establishment Committee and Serb leaders. According to United States Ambassador William Montgomery, the Commission was concerned with the fact that departures from eastern Croatia continued, with individual instances of intimidation and the fact that authorities were not adequately punishing the perpetrators. The authorities have not done enough for the return of about 2,500 families of displaced persons who wanted to return to abandoned areas, Montgomery told reporters. The US ambassador was also concerned at the non-functioning of the Vukovar City Council. The US agency for international investments has drafted reconstruction projects for eastern Croatia but will provide the funds only to those units of local government and self-government where authorities function normally, Montgomery explained. He said the international community was also concerned with the fact that people who submitted reconstruction requests had still not begun with any work. The Serb community must be more active in cooperation, advocate and be more understanding for an alternative accommodation of displaced persons, and also achieve a better and more consistent cooperation with the Croat side, the US ambassador emphasised. Today, members of the Article 11 Commission, in charge of supervising the reintegration of eastern Croatia, visited the New Cemetery in Vukovar, where exhumations of victims of Serb aggression have been under way since April 28. At the cemetery, they met with the head of the government's commission for detained and missing persons, Ivan Grujic, and some families attending today's exhumation. They laid a wreath by the central cross in the cemetery. (hina) ha 202121 MET may 98