ZAGREB, 23 July (Hina) - John Shattuck, assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State, in charge of democracy, human rights and social issues, met with the families of missing and imprisoned Croatian citizens in Zagreb on
Wednesday.
ZAGREB, 23 July (Hina) - John Shattuck, assistant to the U.S. Secretary of +
State, in
charge of democracy, human rights and social issues, met with the families of +
missing
and imprisoned Croatian citizens in Zagreb on Wednesday. #L#
In the introductory part of the meeting, which lasted less than an hour, the
gathered were also addressed by the U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith.
Although the families of the missing and imprisoned Croatian citizens had +
little
time to present their problems and complaints, Shattuck admitted in one moment +
that
the pain in the room was so strong one could feel it in the air.
Although the problems presented at the meeting differed, the message given to
the U.S. diplomats was clear: the families of the missing and imprisoned were
dissatisfied with what the international community has done during the six +
years of
gathering information on their loved ones; they do not believe that future +
achievements
will be anything but empty promises and they are deeply hurt because there have+
been
attempts lately to treat equally the victims, Croats and the aggressors, Serbs.
Although Croatia was still searching for 2,287 missing persons, some 500 cases
had been solved in the past year, Shattuck said and promised that the process +
of
search would be accelerated.
He also added that the United States had made it clear to the Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic that his country would not get a single dollar of
international help if he failed to fulfil the obligations he had taken over, +
including the
obligation to publicise data on missing persons.
(hina) rm
231548 MET jul 97