OSCE WELCOMES REGISTRATION OF RADIO STATIONS IN DANUBE REGION

( Editorial: --> 8627 ) ZAGREB, June 3 (Hina) - The Mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) welcomes the announcement of the registration of three local radio stations in the Croatian Danube River region, the Mission's spokesman Mark Thompson said in Zagreb on Wednesday. The radio stations in question are in Borovo, Mirkovci and Vukovar and they have been broadcasting programmes for the local Serb population. Thompson also welcomed the appointment of Milan Milic as Croatian Assistant Education and Sport Minister. Milic was proposed for the office by the Joint Council of (Serb majority) Municipalities in January this year, in line with the Croatian Government's Letter of Intent of January 1997 and the Government's agreement with Serbs from the Danube River region in May of 1997. Thompson stressed the joint statement given by Croatian Education and Sport Minister Bozidar Pugelnik and the head of the OSCE Mission in Croatia, Tim Guldimann, on Tuesday, adding the OSCE admits factual mistakes in its report on the situation in the Croatian education system and apologises for them. Kirsten Haupt, spokeswoman for the UN Police Support Group in the Danube River region, spoke about the work of the police in the region, which she described as "generally good". However, she also named two examples where local police officers acted unprofessionally and against the law, which caused the UNPSG to ask Assistant Interior Minister Josko Moric to launch a thorough investigation. UNHCR has information that the Government Commission will complete the draft of the refugee return plan by the end of this week, UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said. UNHCR handed its draft plan to the Government Commission last week. Construction of ten houses in the village of Kusonje, which is covered by a UNHCR pilot-project of return, was completed by May 15 and it is expected that ten families will return to their homes, Mahecic added. The UNHCR spokesman completely dismissed claims from a Croatian newspaper article saying the UNHCR participated in talking Bosnian Croat refugees into leaving Croatia. (hina) jn rml/bag , 031720 MET jun 98