OSCE AMBASSADORS VISIT EASTERN CROATIA

( Editorial: --> 7217 ) CEPIN, Oct 9 (Hina) - A delegation of Vienna-based Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) ambassadors on Friday visited Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem Counties in eastern Croatia to learn about the course of return of refugees and displaced persons. According to OSCE mission to Croatia deputy chief Victor Tomseth, the ambassadors will notify the Permanent OSCE Council in Vienna about their findings. Tomseth assessed the situation in eastern Croatia as still complex, adding that OSCE's aim was to assist in the reconstruction through advice and the engagement of foreign donors. The delegation today met Osijek-Baranja County Prefect Srecko Lovrincevic and his associates at a refugee settlement in Cepin. The Prefect emphasised the international community's assistance was necessary for the revival of economy through favourable loans and for mine-clearing, to as soon as possible create conditions for the refugee's return and existence. Our duty is to follow how Croatia implements signed documents, said OSCE's Tomseth. A decision on whether the OSCE will stay in Croatia after December this year will be made by the Permanent Council in Vienna, he explained, adding in the meantime, the OSCE was following the performance of Croatian police which, he said, was highly professional. OSCE will take over the peace mission in eastern Croatia from the UN civil police support group on October 16. According to the head of the regional office for displaced persons and refugees, Nada Arbanas, there is 33,808 refugees and displaced in Osijek-Baranja County at present. Only 2,000 exiled persons are still in the County, while the rest of a former 13,000 either returned to their pre-war homes elsewhere in Croatia or sold their property and left Croatia, she explained. The number of returnees who have come back to the County is 11,000. Arbanas believes it would be higher were Serbs from other parts of Croatia not occupying the returnees' flats. The OSCE delegation includes ambassadors from Greece, Italy, Spain, and Belgium - members of the OSCE Permanent Council, and the said countries' ambassadors to Croatia. (hina) ha 092010 MET oct 98