FIRST FAMILIES RETURN TO THEIR FLATS IN VUKOVAR ( Editorial: --> 8706 )

( Editorial: --> 8706 ) VUKOVAR, 6 Nov (Hina) - Two families have returned to their flats in the recently reconstructed apartment building Danube I in Vukovar. The first, Serb family, returned to their flat a couple of days ago, and the second family, of Croat nationality, returned on Thursday. "The return to reconstructed apartment buildings in Vukovar has started", the head of the regional Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Vinkovci, Ante Drmic, told Hina today. Another family is to return tomorrow, and several others next week, Drmic said. Two families have returned to a twenty-apartment building in the Vukovar district of Borovo. The two families belong to the category of 'internally displaced' - those who live in other peoples' houses in the Danube river region. Danube I and the apartment building in Borovo with a total of 91 apartments were reconstructed by the European Union and the Swedish and Dutch governments, which invested some 3.3 million German marks. The two buildings were officially opened on 28 October by the EU foreign policy commissioner Hans van den Broek, U.N. Transitional Administrator in the Danube river region, William Walker, and Croatia's Reconstruction and Development Minister, Jure Radic. Some 1,700 Vukovar flats are currently being reconstructed. The largest part of reconstruction works is financed by the Reconstruction and Development Ministry. (hina) rm 061704 MET nov 97