ZAGREB, Feb 4 (Hina) - A Croatian Parliament vice-chairwoman, Jadranka Kosor, Sunday received a UN missing persons expert, Manfred Nowak, in Zagreb.
ZAGREB, Feb 4 (Hina) - A Croatian Parliament vice-chairwoman,
Jadranka Kosor, Sunday received a UN missing persons expert,
Manfred Nowak, in Zagreb. #L#
Present at the meeting were a Croatian vice premier, in charge
of humanitarian issues, Dr. Ivica Kostovic, and the head of the
government office for detainees and missing persons, Ivan Grujic.
Mr. Nowak informed his Croatian interlocutors about results of
his tour to eastern Slavonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Nowak said that during his visit to the Croatian Danubian area
he had toured Ovcara (still held by Croatian rebel Serbs), the site
of the mass grave, in order to be assured that there had been no
attempts to exhume the dead or relocate the bodies. He said he
could see there had been no works at the site of Ovcara, and added
that 10 members of the UN Transitional Administration of Eastern
Slavonia (UNTAES) were manning the nearby observation point with
the task to oversee the site of the mass grave.
The UN expert said that during his stay in Bosnia he had got
support from all the sides for his proposal that a multilateral
commission at a ministerial level should be established so that the
exchange of information on missing persons could be quicker.
Nowak added that the Croatian side had early backed his
proposal, and said he would have to leave for Belgrade soon to ask
about the stance of the Serbian side.
If all parties agree, the first session of such commission
could be held for several weeks, according to Nowak.
The Croatian officials drew Nowak's attention to the issue of
registering detainees. While the Croatian side has registered all
detainees, the Serbian side has failed to meet commitment as
regards this problem. In case the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) manages to record a detained person, a number of
persons who are believed to be missing, can decrease.
The UN missing persons expert thanked the Croatian side for
cooperation and stressed that the problem of missing people must be
solved if one wants to establish the comprehensive peace in the
region.
(hina) mms
041244 MET feb 96