CROATIAN GOVT WILL NOT ACCEPT EXTENSION OF UNTAES MANDATE - RADIC

ZAGREB, Sept 22 (Hina) - "The Croatian government will under no circumstances, for no reason, accept an extension of the UNTAES mandate beyond 15 January next year," Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Jure Radic told reporters on Monday after a government session which focused on the process of peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube river region. This was the concluding statement of the report adopted at the session, whose purpose was to inform the international community and public in detail about everything the Croatian state had done so far in the process of peaceful reintegration of the Danubian area, Radic said. The report cited departments, areas and tasks in which the reintegration had been completed, he said, adding that through different programmes of reconstruction, reintegration of public companies and so on, the Croatian government had invested 10 billion kuna (about US$ 1.58 billion) so far. He stressed Croatia had kept on almost all employees in the area, which exceeded technological needs. The report cites that about 12,000 people in the Danubian area received pensions. Out of 12,800 people who had submitted requests to return from the Danubian area to other parts of Croatia, 50% had already returned, Radic said. On the other hand, out of 81,000 displaced persons who wanted to return to the Danubian area, only 1.2 percent had done so. "This provides us with a big task to create conditions within the next three to six months, for at least half of them to return to the Danubian area, those whose houses have suffered minor damage and are vacant, while the others would return after the whole reconstruction programme is completed. We can do this, and we discussed how during the government session," Radic said. The government also adopted a document with principles of the programme of accelerated return, establishment of trust and normalisation of life in war-ravaged areas of Croatia. The document was based on the Croatian Constitution, laws and principles of international standards regarding the rights of national minorities, and clearly stated the government's stance that in wished to secure equal living conditions in the Croatian state for all Croatian citizens who accepted being both the defenders and builders of the Croatian state. There would be no discrimination, Radic stressed. "We want to have an equal approach to everyone. If someone is a victim of war, whether Serb or Croat, Croatia will provide him with a home," Radic stressed, adding that information pointed to the fact that a lot more had been done for persons of Serb nationality than for persons of Croat nationality, although, Radic concluded, the international community very often presented that differently. (hina) lm jn 221846 MET sep 97