COMMITTEE SET UP TO HELP RESTORE TRUST IN VUKOVAR COUNTY

( Vidi vijest: 5776 ) VINKOVCI, Oct 25 (Hina) - A committee in charge of restoring inter- ethnic trust in Vukovar-Srijem County was established in Vinkovci on Saturday. A similar committee will be set up for Osijek-Baranja County next week. Earlier this month the Croatian government set up a national committee to implement its programme aimed at establishing inter- ethnic trust, accelerating the return of refugees and displaced persons and normalising life in the country's war-affected areas. National Committee Chairwoman Vesna Skare-Ozbolt said that the National Committee was an advisory body with the task of creating an atmosphere of tolerance, speeding up refugee returns, normalising life and establishing trust. "The committee which has been established today will perform the same tasks at the county level," she told reporters in Vinkovci. After the constituent session of the trust restoration committee for Vukovar-Srijem County, the National Committee held a three- hour meeting with all heads of municipalities and mayors in the Croatian Danube region. Justice Minister Miroslav Separovic announced at the meeting that the government was preparing a programme of the return of refugees and displaced persons, in conformity with a Constitutional Court ruling abolishing some provisions of the Law on the Temporary Takeover of Property. "The gist of that programme is to avoid unnecessary legal disputes and to give precise instructions to relevant government bodies and local commissions on how to implement the Constitutional Court decision in accordance with the law," Separovic said, noting that the programme would cover the whole country. Reconstruction and Development Centre Director Ivan Krstanovic told the meeting that about 80,000 apartments had been destroyed or damaged in the UN-administered part of Vukovar-Srijem County and that about 10 billion kuna should be invested over the next few years in the reconstruction of infrastructure and housing. Speaking of economic recovery, Krstanovic said that "capital will enter the Croatian Danube region only if various benefits are provided." Describing the security situation in the region as good, Transitional Police Force (TPF) chief Ivan Babic said that displaced persons would be guaranteed safe visits to the cemeteries in the region on All Saints' Day on November 1. Babic recalled that the cars in the Croatian Danube regions should be bearing Croatian licence plates as of November 1 and that TPF officers would be wearing Croatian uniforms as of mid-November. Entry into that area by car would also be facilitated, he added. Deputy Agriculture Minister Djuro Bicanic said that last year's autumn sowing and this year's spring sowing had been financed with nearly 40 million kuna in commodity loans. Assistant Labour and Social Welfare Minister Marijan Pokrajcic said that the payment of one-time cash benefits to people living below the poverty line would begin next week. The heads of municipalities and mayors stressed that local trust restoration committees should be established as soon as possible to help solve the accumulated problems. (hina) vm 251832 MET oct 97