U.N. TRANSITIONAL ADMINISTRATOR ON DEPARTURE OF UNTAES TROOPS

( Editorial: --> 8277 ) BELGRADE, Dec 14 (Hina) - The head of the UN Transitional Administration of Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES), William Walker, said in an interview published on Sunday he could not assess how many people would leave the Danube river region of Croatia after the departure of UN troops on January 15. I think that most of the Serbs in Eastern Slavonia will delay making such a decision to see how things will develop in the region after the expiry of the UNTAES mandate, Walker told the Belgrade-based Beta news agency. He said 180 monitors of the UN civilian police would remain in the region nine months after the departure of UN forces to oversee the work of Croatian police. After the full reintegration of Eastern Slavonia into Croatia, the main task of the Croatian government is to ensure equal treatment before the law for all of its citizens, regardless of their ethnic background, Walker said. The United Nations and the Council of Europe will react if Croatia fails to fulfil its obligations and in that case it won't be able to become a full member of European institutions, for which it cares very much, he added. Asked whether Croatia had the right to deploy its troops along the border between Eastern Slavonia and Yugoslavia in view of the fact that the two countries had not reached an agreement on the demilitarisation of the wider region, Walker responded in the affirmative. Walker said that it was ironic to some extent that some occurrences causing the greatest tension among the Serb population in the region were in the hands of the government in Belgrade and not that in Zagreb. (hina) vm 141819 MET dec 97