"APEL" DELEGATION VISITS VUKOVAR, OVCARA MASS GRAVE

VUKOVAR, Aug 30 (Hina) - A delegation of Apel, a centre for the protection of human rights of missing, led away by force or imprisoned Croatian defenders and citizens, on Saturday visited Vukovar, the Ovcara mass grave and the so called Bulgarian cemetery in Vukovar where bodies found after the town's occupation are buried. Heading the delegation was the centre's president, Zdenka Farkas. At Ovcara, the Apel delegation was unpleasantly surprised at seeing that the burial ground of 200 Croatian wounded persons, defenders and civilians, who were taken away from a Vukovar hospital and killed on 20 November 1991, was completely neglected. The ground is unguarded and no sign testifies to it being a mass grave. "This is a shame", said Anuska Fitus, a member of Apel and a displaced person from Vukovar whose husband was killed and whose younger son's fate is still unknown. "UNTAES claimed it guarded and tended to the graves, but this is not true", she said, and asked "why is there no respect for killed Croats?" The Apel delegation also visited the so called Bulgarian cemetery at the eastern outskirts of Vukovar where, after occupying the town, the former JNA (Yugoslav Peoples' Army) buried several hundred persons, many of whom were unidentified, or killed during or after battles. Most of these graves are also untended to. Apel's president Farkas expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that UN's transitional administration for the Danube region of eastern Croatia (UNTAES), only twice allowed few members of her centre to visit the graves and light candles, despite numerous requests. (hina) ha 301812 MET aug 97