OSIJEK-BARANJA COUNTY RETURNEES DEMAND MEETING WITH MINISTER

( Editorial: --> 1589 ) OSIJEK, Aug 3 (Hina) - The Osijek-Baranja County Returnees' Association has demanded an urgent meeting with Croatian Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic to discuss problems in the reconstruction of the eastern Croatian Danube River region. A meeting of the Association's management committee on Monday night said returnees were particularly dissatisfied with the current model of reconstructing homes with category-one damage and demanded an organised reconstruction of those houses, given that 5,500 kuna (about US$852) was inadequate for quality reconstruction and the war damage category of the homes. They have also demanded the Croatian National Parliament at its next session propose changes to a decision on equalising the status and rights of returnees, contained in the Government's Programme for the Return and Accommodation of Displaced Persons, Refugees and Exiled Persons. They consider that those who provoked war cannot be equalised with the same rights as those who felt its consequences. Management committee chairman Josip Kompanovic said with the application of such a decision, Serbs who were returning to Croatia were receiving the same rights as displaced Croats. The management committee has asked for an extension to September 1 of a deadline for the submission of required documents, which are enclosed in requests for reconstruction. It believes the decision on the final deadline for the submission of documents until the end of July was announced too late and made during annual holidays, so that it was questionable whether many returnees were notified about this in an adequate way. (Hina) mbr 032317 MET aug 98