OSCE & UNHCR WELCOME GOVERNMENT REFUGEE RETURN PLAN

( Editorial: --> 3407 ) ZAGREB, June 24 (Hina) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) welcomes the Croatian Government's Programme for the Return and Care of Refugees and Displaced People, OSCE representatives told a press conference in Zagreb on Wednesday. The conference was held by representatives of the OSCE, the UN Liaison Office (UNLO) in Zagreb and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The return plan, if implemented appropriately, will represent considerable progress, OSCE spokesman Mark Thompson said. The Croatian Government has made a sincere effort in order to tackle returnee issues which the international community has been pointing to for quite some time, Thompson said adding the status of the return plan, once it is confirmed by Parliament, would be the same as a law. The new return plan stresses the unconditional right of every individual to return freely to his home and it establishes the process of re-taking possession of one's own property, Thompson said. We especially welcome the fact that a new Housing Commission has been established, the OSCE spokesman said. The OSCE and UNHCR Missions will closely cooperate in assisting the implementation of the return plan, Thompson said. UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said that the head of the UNHCR Mission in Croatia, Robert Robinson, had recently welcomed the Government's return plan during a meeting with Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa and his deputies Mate Granic and Jure Radic. The UNHCR hopes that Parliament will ratify the plan and that its application will start soon. We hold that this document is very good, Mahecic said adding that some questions, though, still had to be clarified. It was stressed during Robinson's meeting with Matesa that it was necessary to clarify issues relating to persons who had the status of tenancy right holders, the UNHCR spokesman said. "Croatia now has a chance to near the international community. We welcome this document because it will help in advancing the programme of peaceful reintegration of all Croatian citizens as well as the country's economic revival, thus securing a sustainable peace," Mahecic said. The UNHCR spokesman believes that the most important part of the plan is that it provides for the possibility of urgent return of people who want to return and meet the set requirements. We are satisfied because a series of conditions set by the previous plans have been given up, which in itself is a reflection of a mature and responsible attitude, Mahecic said. UNLO spokeswoman Kirsten Haupt acquainted reporters with the statistical data on the situation in the Danube region. She concluded that in the last seven days the number of incidents the UN believed to have been ethnically caused was less than in the past two weeks. (hina) rml /mbr 241738 MET jun 98