WORKING GROUP FOR TWO-WAY RETURN HOLDS SESSION ( Editorial: --> 8128 )

( Editorial: --> 8128 ) VUKOVAR, 4 Nov (Hina) - Several thousand displaced persons have returned to the Croatian Danube river region in various ways and 1,734 of them have been granted returnee status. At the same time more than 7,000 persons have returned from the Danube river region to other parts of Croatia, and 2,486 of them have been given returnee status, the Government Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees said in a statement Tuesday. The Office has received 24,802 applications for the return of 72,457 displaced persons to the Danube river region and those applications keep coming in, said the statement, given to Hina by the Office's head Lovre Pejkovic on the occasion of today's meeting of the Working Group for Two-Way Return in Vukovar. According to the statement, 7,142 families with 15,105 members have applied for return from the Danube river region to other parts of Croatia. More than 5,000 families with 8,980 members want to stay in the Danube river region, while 5,153 families, currently accommodated in the Danube river region, want to sell or exchange their property. Return to damaged and occupied houses has improved considerably, Pejkovic said, describing it as a new period in the two-way return because until recently people used to return on the basis of family reunions or because their homes were not occupied or damaged. The first 16 families have taken over their houses in other parts of Croatia, which had other tenants until recently. This has been carried out in line with a decision of the Constitutional Court on the cancellation of some regulations of the Act on Temporary Take-Over of Certain Property. "There were no incidents and no one was left without accommodation," Pejkovic said. Serbs returning to other parts of Croatia have been given first amounts of money for the reconstruction of houses belonging to I - III damage category, Pejkovic said. Asked whether people whose return was not organised would be given returnee status, Pejkovic said they would, adding those people should register themselves with the local authorities, police or branch offices of the Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees in order to gain returnee status. Members of the Government Agency for Mediation in Certain Real Estate Transactions said the Agency has bought some 50,000 houses while members of the Ministry for Reconstruction and Development said that 48 returnee families in Ilok, Bapska and Lovas would be given furniture by the end of this week. The Working Group for Two-Way Return held its regular weekly meeting in Vukovar Tuesday. This operational body, which implements and supervises the two-way return to and from the Danube river region, consists of Croatian Government, UNTAES and UNHCR members. (hina) rm 041827 MET nov 97