FAMILIES OF MISSING & DETAINED SEEK FASTER EXHUMATION&IDENTIFICATION

( Editorial: --> 0119 ) ZAGREB, Sept 13 (Hina) - An association of families of detained and missing Croatian defenders, Croatian Phoenix, on Sunday demanded of the government's Commission for Detained and Missing Persons a more effective mass grave tracing, exhumation, and identification of Homeland War Victims, especially in the Banovina region. In a letter forwarded to the head of the government Commission Ivan Grujic, Croatian Phoenix pointed out that some bodies in Banovina were waiting for identification since 1995. The government Commission promised the identification of all exhumed bodies and the use of DNA analysis if necessary, but failed in doing so, Croatian Phoenix emphasised. The association questioned the equipment of Croatian forensic laboratories, and recalled that according to a December 1997 government decision, the Commission was supposed to apply a more effective use of DNA analysis in the identification. Croatian Phoenix warned that problems in the Banovina region had been especially neglected, and that identification in that region was disproportionate to that in eastern Croatia. (hina) ha 131609 MET sep 98