NATIONAL TRUST ESTABLISHMENT COMMITTEE & INTERNATIONAL REPS MEET

( Editorial: --> 8128 ) VUKOVAR, 13 Dec (Hina) - The National Trust-Establishment Committee will use the time until the completion of the UNTAES mandate (15 January 1998) for sending clear political messages so that normalisation and improvement of quality of life in the Croatian Danube river region could continue after 15 January and the two-way return could be accelerated, the Committee's head and Presidential Deputy Chief-Of-Staff, Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, said Saturday. Skare-Ozbolt spoke at a meeting of the National Trust- Establishment Committee and heads of international organisations working in the Danube river region and elsewhere in Croatia. The full restoration of Croatian authority in the area on 16 January will not mean that the state policy, which has been implemented so far, will be given up, Skare-Ozbolt said. Efforts will be made in further normalising the situation so that the Danube river region could again become Croatia's most prosperous part, she added. Skare-Ozbolt stressed the achievements of the National Committee in establishing trust and normalising life as well as contacts between the Catholic and Serb Orthodox churches, which, she said, could considerably support the normalisation process. In the coming period, the National Committee will pay special attention to the acceleration of the two-way return, reconstruction of homes and economy, mine-removal, establishment of mutual trust, the rule of law and democracy in the area, respect for rights and fulfilment of obligations by all citizens in the area, she said. Our achievements in those fields are not connected with the completion of the UNTAES mandate but are part of a process which will last, Skare-Ozbolt concluded. Although the process of trust-establishment will last long, especially on the individual level, the National Committee has started impressive work, UN Transitional Administrator William Walker said. Recalling that the UNTAES mandate will end on 15 January, Walker said that tension, especially among the Serbs in the Danube river region, was understandable. People want to know what will happen but the only true answer would be that nobody knows it, he said. The final development of the situation depends on personal decisions of many individuals, but also of all sides involved in the peaceful reintegration, he said. Walker said he hoped the Croatian Government understood the concern of ethnic minorities in the Croatian Danube river region, which, in his opinion, could be lessened by adequate government actions. Speaking at the meeting, Transitional Administrator Walker, the head of the Mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Tim Guldimann, and the head of the Mission of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Rob Robinson, stressed the importance of equal participation in solving problems concerning tenancy rights of persons who lost those rights by having left their flats in the past several years. The three officials welcomed the work of the National Committee, stressing the importance of speeding up the two-way return and implementing the Laws on Amnesty and Temporary Conscription Exemption for Serbs in the Danube river region. They called on the Serbs from the Danube river region to use all opportunities offered by Croatian citizenship and promised that the international community would support them. Following the open part of the meeting, Croatian officials and representatives of the international community continued their talks behind closed doors, after which they held a press conference. At the press conference, heads of OSCE, UNHCR and UN missions in Croatia presented data on the composition of their missions following the withdrawal of the UNTAES. Reintegration of the Danube river region into Croatia will be followed by Croatia's reintegration into Europe, said Croatia's Ambassador with the OSCE, Mario Nobilo. The international community will no longer be present in Croatia to act as "an arbiter, to determine or punish, but to advise, encourage and help the Croatian state policy in its willingness to participate in the reconciliation process. That is how the responsibility and democratic qualities of the Croatian authority will be tested," Nobilo said. Attending today's meeting were, among others, other members of the National Committee, Vukovar and Osijek Counties' Prefects Rudolf Koenig and Anica Horvat, Ilok and Beli Manastir Mayors Stipan Kraljevic and Veljko Bertic, and Vukovar Deputy Mayor Stipo Serenec. (hina) rm 131918 MET dec 97