$ OLD ZAGREB, July 11 (Hina) - UNTAES spokesman in eastern Slavonia Philip Arnold told Thursday's news conference in Zagreb that the Amnesty Act and the list of excluded from the act submitted by the Croatian government were not
satisfactory, and warned that it would not contribute to the establishment of trust among the local population in the Croatian Danubian area.
ARN
$ OLD
ZAGREB, July 11 (Hina) - UNTAES spokesman in eastern Slavonia
Philip Arnold told Thursday's news conference in Zagreb that the
Amnesty Act and the list of excluded from the act submitted by the
Croatian government were not satisfactory, and warned that it would
not contribute to the establishment of trust among the local
population in the Croatian Danubian area. #L#
He criticized the open possibility of additions to the list,
including very old or dead persons who did not live in the area.
"We have told the Croatian government that we believe that
this matter can only be solved by a final, definitive and absolute
list and until that happens the local population is naturally going
to be under a cloud of concern and worry," Arnold said.
He described the process of peaceful integration as moving in
a positive direction.
Stressing that the main task of the UNTAES was the integration
of the region into the standard Croatian customs and legal system,
he said that the request of local Serb authorities for an extensive
autonomy with special police forces, currency and justice system
was "unrealistic and unreasonable".
"But in any normal west-European liberal democratic society,
minorities have rights in areas of education and culture and ethnic
traditions which should be legally ensured. We consider this
perfectly normal, perhaps not in the Balkans, but Croatia is not in
the Balkans, so we go by European standards," Arnold added.
He said that the UN Transitional Administrator Jacques Klein
held that he would need a year for the fulfillment of his task,
from the day of the demilitarization, which would mean June 1997.
"And he believes that 12 months is the appropriate time to
introduce all Croatian rules, regulations, currency, legal
procedures and the like. There is also the question of an election
which has to take place at least 30 days before the end of UNTAES
mandate," Arnold said.
Commenting rumours that Russians were to take over the command
of UNTAES military forces, Arnold said, "it's absolutely false".
(hina) lm jn
111750 MET jul 96