DEMILITARIZATION OF EASTERN SLAVONIA SMOOTH AND SUCCESSFUL -U.N.

ZAGREB, June 19 (Hina) - The demilitarization of Eastern Slavonia, which is to be completed by noon on Thursday, is going smoothly and successfully without any significant problems, a spokesman for the UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) said on Wednesday. At the beginning of the demilitarization process there had been more than 100 tanks and as many mortars in the remaining Serb- occupied area of eastern Croatia. Now there were about six or seven pieces of both types of weapons, Arnold told a press conference in Zagreb. Arnold stressed that the heavy weapons that remained in the area would be seized by UNTAES troops on Thursday and destroyed. In the last two weeks, Serb forces had withdrawn to barracks where they handed over small arms to their superiors and were demobilized, he said. Arnold positively assessed the Croatian government's explanation of the amnesty law. Only those Serbs who had committed war crimes as defined by international law would be prosecuted, he added. UNTAES police were now deployed in every police station in Eastern Slavonia and a joint police force made up of Croat and Serb officers would maintain law and order in the area as of July 1. There were currently 34 border monitors overseeing traffic and customs operations at international crossings in the area and the number of monitors would be doubled in the next few weeks, the spokesman said. Arnold said that a more intensive implementation of the program of return of Croatian refugees to the area would start as of July 1. The UN administration believed that the exploitation of oil at Djeletovci would begin in several weeks. (hina) vm mm 191925 MET jun 96