UN TRANSITIONAL ADMINISTRATOR WALKER VISITS DRNIS

DRNIS, Sep 1 (Hina) - The UN Transitional Administrator of the Croatian Danube river area, William Walker, on Monday visited the town of Drnis (southern Croatia). Walker was received by the mayor of Drnis, Ante Matic. Present at their meeting were also Deputy Prefect of Sibenik- Knin, Mladen Abramac, a parliamentary member, Ante Djelalija and the chief of the Sibenik-Knin police, Drago Matic. During their visit, Walker and other UNTAES officials talked about conditions for the return of Serbs, who are now in the Croatian Danube river region, to this area and about an incident that had happened in front of the Serb Orthodox Church last Thursday during a visit of a Serb Orthodox priest. Mayor of Drnis, Ante Matic, who expressed regret at the incident, stressed that it would not have happened if there had been more cooperation between that Orthodox priest, Ilija Karajovic, with local authorities, and added that Thursday's event could not be seen as a standard of overall behaviour toward Serbs who live freely in Drnis. Matic reminded UN officials that this town had been occupied by Serb rebels for four years and that 10,600 residents of the area had been expelled. Of them, 7,126 have returned to their hometown and more than 3,000 displaced people cannot still return. During the Serb occupation, 5000 Croat-owned houses, numerous (Roman-Catholic) churches, schools, health centres and the infrastructure were destroyed. Matic said that local authorities were trying to create conditions for the return and life of everybody who would like to live in the Drnis area, liberated in the Storm operation in 1995. He added that 80 citizens of the Serb origin had already returned and lived now freely in the area. A local police representative, Drago Matic, said that police was investigating a case of the house fire when the house's owner, an old woman, had gone to her neighbour. He said that the investigation would establish whether the fire was set to the house or it flared up for other reasons. Deputy Prefect Mladen Abramac said that over 1,000 Serbs had returned to Sibenik-Knin County so far. U.S. diplomat Walker advocated the organised and safe return. He did not think that mentioned incidents could discourage all those who were willing to invest their money into the reconstruction and development of the Drnis area. (hina) jn mš 011927 MET sep 97