OSCE HELPS CROATIA TO FULFILL UNDERTAKEN OBLIGATIONS

( Editorial: --> 3902 ) ZAGREB, Nov 26 (Hina) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) mission is helping Croatia to fulfill undertaken commitments with the final aim of Croatia's accession into the family of European countries, OSCE representatives said in Zagreb on Wednesday. A delegation of the OSCE Troika - comprising the representative of Denmark, which currently presides over the organisation, a representative of Poland, to preside over the organisation, and a representative of Switzerland, formerly presiding over the OSCE - arrived in Zagreb for a visit to Croatia. The Danish Ambassador at the OSCE, William Friis Moeller, Poland's Adam Kobieracki and Switzerland's Marianne von Gruenigen held talks with representatives of the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem (UNTAES) in Vukovar on Tuesday, and with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Ljerka Mintas-Hodak on Wednesday. Moeller told Wednesday's news conference that the OSCE mission in Croatia would not take over the UN's tasks, because they would be taken over by Croatian authorities. The OSCE's task was to help the Croatian authorities to realise their own goals, namely democracy, human rights, rule of law, equality before the law and final accession into European associations, Moeller said. Nobody expected fast results, he added. The task of the OSCE mission in Croatia, established in April 1996 at the invitation of the Croatian government, is to promote democracy and human rights, and especially to supervise Croatia's fulfillment of obligations regarding the two-way return of refugees and displaced person and the protection of members of national minorities. The OSCE is active in the whole of Croatia, but its special attention is directed towards the Croatian Danube river region and the areas liberated in the Croatian military operations "Storm" and "Flash" in the summer of 1995. Besides the headquarters in Zagreb, the OSCE has 16 offices in these areas, six of them in the Croatian Danubian area. The Croatian authorities had undertaken a number of commitments concerning the normalisation of the situation in the country, and OSCE's main goal was to supervise the course of the process on the ground, OSCE mission chief in Croatia, Tim Guldimann, said. Moeller said the Troika had talked to President Tudjman about the issue of equality under the law, which was especially important for the Danubian area, as well as for the whole of Croatia. The talks had also focused on the continuation of the process of the return of refugees and displaced persons, where modest progress had been achieved in the past two months, he added. Kobieracki said everyone had expressed a wish to cooperate with the OSCE, and thus strengthen Croatia's position. The OSCE mission in Croatia is of long-term importance and the current mandate expires on 31 December 1998. Croatia was accepted into OSCE as a full member in March 1992. (hina) lm jn 261918 MET nov 97