17 DISPLACED AND 101 SERB FAMILIES RETURN TO CRO DANUBE REGION

VUKOVAR, July 24 (Hina) - In line with an agreement on operative return procedures, signed by the Croatian Government, UNTAES and UNHCR, 17 34- member displaced families have returned to the Danube region of eastern Croatia to date, while 101 215-member families have returned from the Danube region to other parts of Croatia, the Vukovar-based UNTAES' Department for Displaced Persons and Refugees said on Thursday. At the same time, the Croatian Government's Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees issued return certificates to 83 165-member families, to return to the Danube region, and certificates for returning from the Danube region to other parts of Croatia to 244 504-member families, the UNTAES department further said. More than 8,000 Serb families, with more than 19,000 members, registered in the Danube region, the UNTAES department said, of whom about a half wants to leave Croatia. Members of the Working Group for the Return, composed of representatives of the Croatian Government, UNTAES and UNHCR, today held a meeting in Vukovar. Also attending were assistants to the Croatian reconstruction and development minister, Ivan Krstanovic and Stjepan Sterc, the head of the Agency for the Trade of Certain Real Estate, Ivica Vrkic, the head of the Croatian Government's Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees, Lovro Pejkovic, the head of UNTAES' Department for Displaced Persons and Refugees, Goran Stigmer, and representatives of UNHCR. The UNTAES' Department for Displaced Persons and Refugees to date submitted about 15,000 return requests by displaced families, Pejkovic told reporters, adding that after inspecting more than 1,000 houses, UNTAES informed that about 250 were fit for moving in. UNTAES will be requested to allow a freer entry into the Croatian Danube region through UNTAES check-points at former boundary lines, Pejkovic said. Asked about his recent visit to Belgrade, Pejkovic said talks there focused on "the return of persons from Croatia to Yugoslavia and the other way round, and damages". "Now arises the question of property indemnity", he said. Asked if Yugoslavia is willing to allow the return of Croats who were exiled from there, Pejkovic answered in the affirmative. "We are talking exclusively about reciprocity", he explained, adding that about 500 Serbs from Yugoslavia, who obtained Croatian documents in the Croatian Danube region, have already made an unorganized return to Croatia. (hina) ha 241625 MET jul 97