VUKOVAR'S MAYOR ASKS FOR REMOVAL OF ILLEGAL SERB FLAGS

VUKOVAR, Oct 16 (Hina) - The Mayor of Vukovar, Vladimir Stengl, on Thursday forwarded a letter to the chief of UNTAES civilian issues, Gerard Fischer, requesting the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem to remove Serb two- headed eagle flags from public buildings in Vukovar. #L# The Serb flag with the image of a two-headed eagle was used by the para-state Krajina (founded by rebel Croatian Serbs on Croatian territory which had been occupied by the former Yugoslav People's Army in 1991). The flag had not been approved by any Croatian state body, Stengl wrote, recalling that on the day of elections, 13 April 1997, all preconditions for the cessation of functioning of para-state bodies in the Croatian Danube river region had been created. "I express regret over the fact that we are still seeing Serb flags on the buildings of some public companies and other institutions in Vukovar, (flags) which symbolise suffering and exodus for the Croat people," he said. "These are the times of the establishment of trust, of accelerated return and normalisation of life in the Danubian area, so we find it unacceptable that Serb flags with the two-headed eagle still fly in Vukovar," the letter said. (hina) lm jn 161928 MET oct 97