NUMBER OF DISPLACED PERSONS IN E. CROATIA HAS DECREASED

( Editorial: --> 1060 ) VINKOVCI, July 31 (Hina) - Some 7,000 Croatian returnees have returned to Vukovar-Srijem County in eastern Croatia so far and regulated their returnee status, the head of the Regional Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Vinkovci Ante Drmic said on Friday. Another 3,000 have returned but not regulated their returnee status. Most people returned to the villages of Lipovac, Apsevci, Donje Novo Selo, Nijemci and Predgradje, a total of 2,357, followed by 1,736 to Ilok, 980 to Nustar, 748 to Vukovar and 319 to Tovarnik. Least returnees were registered to municipalities with a Serb majority population, including ten to Trpinja and 20 to Markusica. According to Drmic, a comprehensive picture of the number of returnees will be available before the beginning of the new school year in September. Many refugees are interested in returning to Vukovar-Srijem County from Yugoslavia, Drmic said, but assessed most were interested in returning only "on paper", in order to sell the property they own in Croatia. Drmic also mentioned a dozen pre-war residents of Vinkovci who were willing to return. These are people with tenancy rights in Vinkovci whose issues will be dealt with by a recently established Vinkovci housing commission. Drmic said the employees of his office were currently completing checking the addresses at which displaced persons were registered. "We found out that the number of displaced persons in Vukovar- Srijem County has since April, when pre-registration was completed, considerably dropped. Out of 4,141 displaced families registered in April we found only 552 at (reported) addresses, excluding Vukovar. In April, 1,923 displaced families were registered in Vukovar alone", said Drmic. Most of the displaced made either organised or spontaneous returns to former places of residence, he added. Some were accommodated in Topolik near Lipik, Sasin Grad near Sisak and Gasince. Others were provided with accommodation in houses found by the Agency for Facilitating Real Estate Transactions, while some sold their property and left Croatia. (hina) ha 311921 MET jul 98