TRAINING OF U.N. EASTERN SLAVONIA POLICE FORCE BEGINS

OSIJEK, April 23 (Hina) - Vlado Tulicic, official in charge of police affairs in the Croatian government office for restoration of Croatian authority in the occupied areas, held a press conference in Osijek on Tuesday on the beginning of a training program for UN Transitional Administration police at the International Law Enforcement Academy in Budapest. Twenty Croatian and as many Serb police officers were sent to Budapest on April 16 as part of a Transitional Administration police team to attend classes on the role of the police in democratic societies, police work in politically divided societies, transitional police missions, human rights and rules of etiquette, Tulicic said. The training program would also include joint exercises and physical education classes under the guidance of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) experts, he added. The UN Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) had requested the Serb side to deliver a list of 50 police officers who would be assigned to the transitional police force while the Croatian side should give its opinion of the proposed Serb officers by 11.00 hours on Thursday. The UNTAES force would have a total of 600 police officers. Noting that Serb authorities in Eastern Slavonia had been informed about time limits for demilitarization of the Danube river area of eastern Croatia, Tulicic said that Croatia had agreed to the police wearing UNTAES markings for a period of three months after their deployment after which Croatian insignia would be gradually introduced. Speaking of a dozen meetings that had so far been held with the Serb committee for police issues, Tulicic said that he got the impression that the Serbs understood the importance of peaceful reintegration but that they were still delaying taking concrete steps. (hina) vm jn 231600 MET apr 96