INTERIOR MINISTRY TAKES OVER RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRANSITIONAL POLICE

( Editorial: --> 8327 ) ZAGREB, Dec 15 (Hina) - The Croatian interior ministry will by January 15, when the UNTAES mandate ends, take over responsibility for direct operative activities of the Transitional Police Force in eastern Croatia, assistant interior minister Josko Moric told the Croatian Television's central news broadcast Sunday evening. The UN transitional administrator for eastern Croatia will be able to influence the work of the TPF only when he believes the work is contrary to the UNTAES mandate or the Erdut Agreement, Moric said. "As we don't intend to pass decisions contrary to (those) documents, there is no fear that the transitional administrator will have any reason to influence the work of the TPF", he said. Moric, who is also a member of the National Committee for the restoration of inter-ethnic trust, said these would be significant steps which would in relatively short time raise the general level of security in the Danube river region of eastern Croatia, as well as of personal safety and safety of property of all people in this area. Speaking about the new local border regime, which came into effect Sunday, Moric recalled that up to now there had been almost no system of state border crossing supervision. Full supervision of Croatian-Yugoslav border crossing will be established with the enforcement of an agreement on local border traffic between the two countries, Moric said. As of Sunday, every Croatian citizen who wants to enter Yugoslavia will be able to do so with a local border pass, if he lives in the area covered by the local border traffic agreement, or with a visa, if he lives elsewhere in Croatia, the assistant interior minister said. Today, Moric will be in eastern Croatia to manage the TPF. (hina) ha 151114 MET dec 97