OSCE MISSION CHIEF HOLDS NEWS CONFERENCE IN VUKOVAR ( Editorial: --> 1859 )

( Editorial: --> 1859 ) VUKOVAR, Nov 18 (Hina) - The head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Croatia, Tim Guldimann, held a news conference in Vukovar on Tuesday to present the tasks of his mission. He was accompanied by the head of the OSCE Coordination Centre in Vukovar, Pierre Pieters, and political adviser Carl Ungar. Guldimann said the OSCE would not assume the duties of the outgoing UN Transitional Administration (UNTAES) in the Danube river region, as that job would be taken over by the Croatian authorities. Our task is to help Croatia integrate into the Western world, Guldimann told reporters in the Dunav Hotel. The OSCE mission will report to the international community on Croatia's compliance with commitments it had assumed and its implementation of documents that had been signed, from the Erdut agreement to resolutions and Croatian laws. Guldimann positively assessed the establishment of the national committee for the restoration of inter-ethnic trust. The OSCE mission will have between 200 and 250 personnel, of whom one third will be stationed on the territory of the two counties currently under UN transitional administration. The mission will be based in Zagreb and will have coordination centres in Vukovar, Sisak, Knin and Daruvar. Responding to several questions by journalists, Guldimann said the mission's mandate had been determined with the agreement of all 55 members of the OSCE and it was envisaged to last until the end of next year. Whether the mandate will be extended or not will be decided by OSCE members, he said. Guldimann said the OSCE mission had been invited to Croatia by the Croatian government. Commenting on today's sixth anniversary of the occupation of Vukovar by Yugoslav army and rebel Serb forces, Guldimann said that November 18 was a sad day for the city. (hina) vm 182225 MET nov 97