COUNCIL OF EUROPE DELEGATION VISITS PETRINJA

PETRINJA, 12 Oct (Hina) - A delegation of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly's Monitoring Committee visited Petrinja on Sunday. The delegation, which includes the president of the Monitoring Committee, Guido de Marco, secretary John Hartland and rapporteurs Gunnar Jansson and Hanna Suchocka, met with Petrinja mayor Josip Dolenec and visited the meat packing and canning industry 'Gavrilovic'. #L# The European officials were interested most in the level of trust and tolerance between Croats and members of ethnic groups, especially Serbs, of whom 964 have returned to the area of Petrinja by 10 October. The return of 252 of them was organised, while 212 returned without previous announcement, of their own accord. Despite the unorganised return, there was not a single incident with the returnees, Dolenec said adding that some 10% of all 3,000 employees in Petrinja are Serbs. Dolenec informed the European officials of the huge war damage done to the whole area of Petrinja, where 5,600 houses and flats and 6,000 commercial facilities had been burnt down, which is more than 50% of all destroyed buildings in the whole of Sisak County. The Council of Europe delegation visited the first Croatian factory of salami, dried meat and lard, 'Mate Gavrilovic's Descendants', where they met with Georg Djuro Gavrilovic, who inherited the factory. The European officials also spoke to a Serb employee who had worked in the company before the war and during the Serbian aggression and is today one of the company's workers, which is not an uncommon example in Petrinja. The Council of Europe representatives also met with the representatives of Petrinja police station and Serb returnees from the Danube river region and Yugoslavia. Accompanying the European officials were Parliament Vice President Zarko Domljan and Slavica Banic, advisor with the House of Representatives' Committee for Foreign Policy. (hina) rm 121734 MET oct 97