GOVT OFFICIAL HAILS SUCCESSFUL START TO RETURN PLAN IMPLEMENTATION

( Editorial: --> 0764 ) ZAGREB, July 30 (Hina) - Implementation of the Programme of Return which was adopted by the Croatian National Parliament has successfully begun, the Government Office for Refugees and Displaced Persons head Lovre Pejkovic told Hina on Thursday. This was proven by the fact that already at least 250 people from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) had returned in accordance to the document, as well as Thursday's return of a group of Serbs to the central Croatian region of Banovina, said Pejkovic, who is also deputy chairman of the state commission for implementing the Programme of Return. By the end of July housing commissions for implementing the programme will be established in all places of return, and it is expected that from early August implementation of the programme's most difficult phase, related to returning to temporarily occupied homes, will begin, Pejkovic said. On June 26 the Croatian National Parliament adopted the Programme of Return which was formulated in cooperation with the international community. This document regulates general procedures for return by people who abandoned their homes because of the war. On the same day the Parliament also adopted the government's Programme for the Return and Accommodation of Displaced Persons, Refugees and Exiled Persons, which outlines in detail plans for more than 220,000 people to return to their homes during the next five years. If the international community assists in the return process, the same number of people could return in just three years. The Return Programme will be carried out on the ground by housing commissions. The commissions will gather returnee requests to reclaim their property, allocate other accommodation for unauthorised users of other people's homes, and have the power to launch court claims against those who refuse to leave illegally occupied homes. Until the end of July the municipal heads and mayors of all places involved in the return process will name members of the committee. Two of the five commission members will belong to a national minority, Pejkovic said. All directions and forms needed for the work of housing commissions have been prepared, and everything is ready for the commissions to begin working unhindered in August, he said. "It is a sensitive process, and it cannot be expected all problems will be resolved on the same day. In the meantime, it is in the interests of the Croatian Government that the Programme of Return be implemented with great speed, quality and transparency, and we will do everything to resolve difficulties quickly," Pejkovic said. Pejkovic said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) up to now had gathered 5,600 requests by Serbs from the FRY to return to Croatia and passed them on to his Office. Another 4,210 requests have been submitted, but there were technical errors in computer entries, so these will have to be verified again, he added. Among the return requests processed so far, it has been confirmed 221 people are on the Croatian Interior Ministry's wanted list, so the Justice Ministry through county courts will be asked to verify the reasons for this, in order to see whether the Amnesty Law is applicable in these cases. More than a thousand Serbs up to now have received permission to return to Croatia from the FRY, but there are many people who had received Croatian documents earlier, so they will most probably return within the procedures or with the UNHCR's help, Pejkovic said. He said there would be a meeting on August 18 of government, international community and housing commission representatives to discuss the first impressions of the Programme of Return. Speaking about the return of the remaining groups of Croatian citizens from abroad, for example Croats in Germany, Pejkovic said they would return in accordance to reconstruction capabilities, for which many have already submitted requests. The return Croats from Bosnia-Herzegovina to their homes, however, will depend on conditions in the entities. For example, associations of Croats exiled from the Bosnian Serb republic have a list of 10,000 people who want to return, but this entity does not allow return. Pejkovic said that next week during talks with Bosnian Serb leaders in Banja Luka, he would try to encourage a start to the return process there. He said the Croatian Government was expecting the international community to put pressure on the Bosnian Serbs to allow return. On the basis of previously reached agreements or spontaneously, at least 42,000 Serbs have returned so far to various parts of Croatia from the FRY, Bosnia and the Croatian Danube River region. In the Danube region, however, only about 17,000 people of the more than 82,000 displaced have returned up to now, according to Government Office for Refugees and Displaced Persons data. (Hina) mbr jn 301922 MET jul 98