DISPLACED PEOPLE'S REPS., BELI MANASTIR LOCAL AUTHORITIES MEET

BELI MANASTIR, July 25 (Hina) - Croatian displaced people's representatives and the head of the Croatian displaced people and refugees office, Lovre Pejkovic, on Friday met members of local authorities in eastern Croatian town of Beli Manastir. At the meeting, Pejkovic said that 39,779 persons had so far submitted requests for the return to the Croatian Danube area. Baranja's six branch offices of the Government's refugee office have registered about 17,000 persons from other parts of Croatia, and 50 percent of them would like to return to their former places of residence, whereas the other 50 percent would like to remain in Baranja or move into other places. Nada Arbanas, the head of the Osijek-based regional office for the displaced and refugees, said that her office had sent a request to the Government proposing measures for speeding up the return to villages covered by a pilot-programme - Bilje, Baranjsko Petrovo Selo, Torjanci, Novi Bezdan and Aljmas. (hina) mš 252105 MET jul 97