SECURITY SITUATION IN EASTERN CROATIA IS GOOD

( Editorial: --> 5395 ) BELI MANASTIR, Dec 2 (Hina) - Officials of the National Committee for the restoration of inter-ethnic trust on Tuesday held a meeting with eastern Croatian local self-government representatives. According to the head of the Committee, Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, they concluded that reconstruction and return should be intensified in Darda, Bilje and Beli Manastir in the UN-administered part of the Osijek-Baranja County, and in Lovas, Tovarnik and Stari Jankovci in the UN-administered part of the Vukovar-Srijem County. "We shall almost daily visit those places where our people are returning to in large numbers, in order to assist in promptly solving their problems," Skare-Ozbolt told reporters after the closed meeting. The head of the Transitional Police Force, Ivan Babic, said at the meeting that the security situation in the Danube river region was good. According to Skare-Ozbolt, Babic added that within 15 days the interior ministry would "take full responsibility for the situation in the Croatian Danube river region". This would mark the end of an important period in the peaceful reintegration process, Skare-Ozbolt said, adding it would provide an even stronger stimulus for Croatian displaced people to return, as well as high security for other residents in eastern Croatia. Speaking about local border traffic between Croatia and Yugoslavia, Skare-Ozbolt said "the intensity of demands for the issuing of local border passports is poor, apart from Vukovar and Beli Manastir." Her deputy Ivica Vrkic said local tax collecting had begun in eastern Croatia. Economic conditions and a free market in the area still had to be ensured, he added. "We have created conditions for a more relaxed wait for the UNTAES mandate to end, but we are already functioning as if the mandate has expired", Vrkic said. (hina) ha mm 021800 MET dec 97