CROATIA WARNS OF SERB BIDS TO ERASE VUKOVAR DESTRUCTION EVIDENCE

OSIJEK, April 5 (Hina) - The Croatian government demanded on Friday that the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) nullify bids invited by rebel Serb authorities for clearing the rubble in the eastern town of Vukovar. The demand was made in a letter by the head of the Office for restoration of Croatian authority in the occupied area, Ivica Vrkic, to UN Transitional Administrator Jacques Klein. Bids for "pulling down buildings" and "levelling the ground" were invited from "the Secretariate for Urban Planning" and the competition was published in the Belgrade-based "Politika" daily of April 3. Under the Basic Agreement and UN Security Council Resolution 1037, the only legitimate authority in the temporarily occupied area, until its reintegration into the constitutional and legal system of Croatia, is the Transitional Administration, Vrkic said. The invitation for bids by an unauthorized body can be considered as a unilateral act by the Serb side by which it refuses to implement the signed agreements. Its realization would lead to the further destruction of the already devestated town, particularly its cultural and historical buildings, he added. Vrkic said that "the levelling of the ground" would destroy the traces of earlier destruction and prevent the process of assessing war damage. Vrkic noted that bids were invited after a successful presentation in Zagreb of an urban development plan for Vukovar, which had also been attended by Klein. (hina) vm jn 052153 MET apr 96