CROAT EXODUS FROM SERBIA'S KOSOVO PROVINCE CONTINUES ( Editorial: --> 7533 )

( Editorial: --> 7533 ) PRISTINA, Nov 2 (Hina) - The mass-scale emigration of ethnic Croats from Serbia's southern Kosovo province continues. The Letnica local commune, which besides Letnica includes three more villages, had a population of nearly 5,000 before 1990 and now it has only about 650 inhabitants. Local community leader Gega Matic says that "unless something radical is done to improve the living conditions, in three years' time there will be no more Croats in the (Letnica) area," 12 km from Kosovska Vitina, on the Macedonian border. Matic, who works as a teacher at the local primary school, says that the number of school children is decreasing by the day. Of 975 Croat pupils in the four villages, 135 remained. Last week, 17 Croats moved out of Letnica, he said. Letnica, which had a population of 700 before 1990, now has fewer than 100 inhabitants after a mass exodus which began in 1991. The village has 135 houses, several restaurants and shops, most of which are closed because of a lack of work and staff. "The living conditions are unbearable. Croats have to walk 12 km to Kosovska Vitina for medical aid because Yugoslav army troops have been accommodated in the local clinic since 1991. But the biggest problem is unemployment," Matic says. The situation in other Croat-dominated villages in the province is similar. The population of Sasare has been reduced from 2,800 in 1990 to 280, that of Vernez from 1,500 to 150 while that of Vernaokol from 1,300 to 120. In Janjevo, the largest Croat village near the provincial capital Pristina, there is also a growing number of abandoned houses. Local residents say that "two Janjevos have moved to Croatia while one has remained in Kosovo." One resident says that only those with nowhere to go will remain in Janjevo. (hina) vm 021345 MET nov 97