VUKOVAR MAYOR SAYS 1999 WILL BE YEAR OF RETURN FOR VUKOVAR

( Editorial: --> 5627 ) VUKOVAR, Aug 24 (Hina) - "The return to Vukovar is not progressing according to the dynamics we envisaged and expected," the mayor of the eastern Croatian town, Vladimir Stengl, told Croatian Radio in Vukovar on Monday. It is now completely certain that this year will not be the year of return, Stengl said. In this respect it is necessary to effect certain corrections regarding the expected number of returnees to Vukovar by the beginning of the school year, he added. "It is a fact that not all conditions for a speedier return of returnees to Vukovar have been realised," Stengl said, adding he hoped this would happen next spring when a large number of housing buildings which are currently being renovated will be completed. A total of 811 flats in Vukovar have been reconstructed so far, including some 350 whose reconstruction was financed by the international community, the mayor said. According to data from the Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Vinkovci, 425 families with 917 members and a regulated returnee status have returned to the Vukovar area by August 12. After the exile in 1991, the displaced person status was granted to 19,789 inhabitants of Vukovar. (hina) ha /mbr 241805 MET aug 98