NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Hina) - Croatia has submitted to the UN Security Council the Report on the implementation of the Croatian government's Letter of Intent about the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube river region dated 15
January 1997, and about the implementation of the constitutional and legal order of Croatia in the Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem counties which are currently under authority of the UN Transitional Administration.
NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Hina) - Croatia has submitted to the UN
Security Council the Report on the implementation of the Croatian
government's Letter of Intent about the peaceful reintegration of
the Croatian Danube river region dated 15 January 1997, and about
the implementation of the constitutional and legal order of
Croatia in the Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem counties which
are currently under authority of the UN Transitional
Administration. #L#
Croatian Ambassador to the UN, Ivan Simonovic, forwarded a
letter to the chairman of the Security Council, citing a
conclusion of the Report that the international community had,
with the help of the Croatian government, achieved significant
progress in the reintegration and that the transfer of authority
from UNTAES onto the Croatian authority could continue as had
been envisioned.
The report states that the Croatian government would
continue to fulfil all its commitments and that it would not
accept any extension of the UNTAES mandate beyond 15 January
next year.
In the letter Simonovic recalled that Croatia had invested
US $ 1.7 billion into the revitalisation and reconstruction of
the Croatian Danubian area, with only two percent of the amount
as international help.
Recalling that the UN Secretary-General and Transitional
Administrator for eastern Slavonia, Baranja and western Srijem
had pointed out the importance of international help to the
reconstruction, Simonovic said the international community had
barely responded.
The letter continued to say that the programme of issuing
documents had ended with the issuance of over 150,000 Croatian
citizenship certificates, which had exceeded even estimates of
UNTAES about the number of Serbs in the Danubian area, adding
that the number was an indicator of success of the UNTAES
mission.
The result of this programme was also the true reflection
of the government's intentions and good will towards former
rebels who had now accepted the rights and commitments from the
Croatian citizenship
Simonovic recalled UNHCR information that over 8,000 Serbs
had returned to the former UNPA areas.
Croatian was the only side in the region which registered
the arrival of people which had stood in arms against it, to the
territory it controlled.
He also recalled that Serb returnees were not only being
reintegrated into Croatia, but also into the existing Serb
community in Croatia.
At least a quarter of the total number of Serbs had
supported the democratically elected authority, 9,000 had served
in the armed forces.
The Croatian government, Simonovic said, had problems with
the reintegration of a part of the Serb ethnic community, while
there were no problems with other ethnic groups.
(hina) lm
251137 MET sep 97