19 SERBS RETURN TO SISAK COUNTY

( Editorial: --> 2163 ) SISAK, Aug 6 (Hina) - Nineteen persons of Serb nationality on Thursday returned from Yugoslavia to Croatia as part of the implementation of a return programme recently adopted by the Croatian parliament. Sixteen persons returned to Dvor Municipality and three to Gvozd Municipality, both in Sisak-Moslavina County. The return was organised by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Croatian government's Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees. The returnees were welcomed in Novo Selo Palanjacko near Sisak by Branka Cindric, head of the Sisak regional office for refugees and the displaced, and representatives of the Sisak-based UNHCR. Cindric said 28 Serbs had registered to return to Sisak-Moslavina County, but that nine had changed their minds on the eve of returning. A total of 7,002 Serbs have returned to this County since the Storm military operation in 1995, when the area was liberated from Serbian occupation, with 1,265 returnees to the Dvor area. The mainly elderly returnees said they were satisfied with returning to their homes after three years of living in difficult conditions in Yugoslav reception centres. (hina) ha 061719 MET aug 98