DISPLACED PERSONS VISIT APARTMENTS IN VUKOVAR

VUKOVAR, Sept 2 (Hina) - A group of displaced persons on Tuesday visited their war-damaged apartments in Vukovar which should be rebuilt in the next few months. They were received by town authorities and representatives of the UN Transitional Administration (UNTAES) and the Transitional Police. UNTAES civilian police chief Walter Fallman and Transitional Police chief Ivan Babic said that the 25 refugee families would be guaranteed security after they returned. Some of those families would return to their rebuilt apartments in two buildings in October, while the rest would return to another two buildings in December. Welcoming the displaced persons outside one of the buildings, UNTAES civil affairs coordinator Gerard Fischer expressed satisfaction with the fact that both Croats and Serbs, as well as representatives of other ethnic groups, would return to those flats. Fischer said that the willingness of tenants of different ethnic origins to live together was in accordance with the intentions of the international community to help in the restoration of a multi-ethnic society in the Croatian Danube region. The displaced people were also received by Vukovar mayor Vladimir Stengl and Town Council chairman Marko Ceprnja, who wished them a speedy return. The buildings to which the displaced persons will return are being reconstructed by the European Union and the governments of Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden. (hina) vm jn 021621 MET sep 97