LETTER ELABORATING TWO-WAY RETURN PROCESS SIGNED IN VUKOVAR

VUKOVAR, July 25 (Hina) - A letter of the agreement on standard operational procedures for the support of the Tudjman-Klein initiative regarding estimations of the de-mining and reconstruction of the Croatian area under the UN Transitional Administration, has been signed, defining the sequence of procedures and time frames for making lists of vacant and damaged houses and for the two-way return of displaced Croatians and Serbs. On Friday, the letter was signed after six-hour-long talks in Vukovar by the Croatian Government and UNTAES. It elaborates and clarifies the agreement on operational procedures of the return, which was signed in April by the Croatian Government, UNTAES and UNHCR. Ivica Krstanovic, the Danube river area reconstruction centre head, who signed the letter, said that it would remove "full blockade" in the implementation of the April agreement, as the letter stipulated exactly ways and steps of the April deal's implementation. In the beginning, the letter says that in each village of the Croatian Danube river area, residents will hold gatherings to get information about future activities. Joint teams of the Croatian Government, county offices, UNTAES and UNHCR will draw up lists of all houses in villages, whereas the Government will simultaneously find solutions for their current tenants, in line with the April agreement. According to the letter, people who would like to renovate their former homes will be offered contracts on the rebuilding within two months, whereas contracts on the purchase of houses within 45 days will be offered to those who opt for the sale. Croatian displaced persons who should come back to the villages in question, either to their vacant houses or on the ground of the family re-union, will receive from the Government's refugee and displaced people a confirmation paper on the return within 15 days after the registration. An operational plan for the listing and assessment of houses in certain villages will be signed by the Government and UNTAES by Tuesday (July 29), according to the letter. Commenting on Friday' letter, Krstanovic said that all houses in the Danube river area should be put on lists by the first week of September in order to enable the speedier and mass two-way return. He added that so far about 2,500 houses had been put on lists in Sarengrad, Bilje, Marinci, Novi Bezdan, Torjanci, Baranjsko Petrovo Selo and Aljmas. According to Friday's letter, eight teams will draw up lists of houses in the area - four of them in Osijek-Baranja County and four in Vukovar-Sirmium County. (hina) mš 252155 MET jul 97