CROATIAN GOVT OFFICIAL, UN CIVILIAN COORDINATOR VISIT BILJE

BILJE, Sept 11 (Hina) - The head of the Croatian government office for the UN-administered area, Ivica Vrkic, and UNTAES civilian coordinator Gerard Fisher on Wednesday visited the Serb-held town of Bilje in eastern Croatia. They met local Serb authorities for talks on the process of peaceful reintegration of the area into Croatia's constitutional and legal system and the return of refugees to their homes. Fisher said that three groups of people were particularly interested in the return: Croatian displaced persons, Serb refugees from Western Slavonia staying in the town, and the native population. Fisher noted that the UNTAES and UNHCR missions could not be successful without the return of displaced persons and refugees to their homes. He added that the cooperation of the Croatian government was necessary for the process. Vrkic said that Croatia would resolve problems of all its citizens "on the basis of the constitutional right that everyone can return to and live in their homes in safety." "What we need first is the establishment of an open dialogue, regardless of differences in views, so that we can solve problems of all people affected by war," Vrkic said. He said that a mass-scale return of refugees would not be possible and that the problem should be solved gradually, in line with pilot projects. "We want to create material, security and political conditions for the return of displaced persons to the area under the UN Transitional Administration and elsewhere in Croatia," Vrkic said. Vrkic said that Croatia wanted to make it possible for all of its citizens to return to their homes and that it supported the implementation of the Erdut agreement, but that it did not want to upset the demographic structure of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem of 1991. Serb refugees accommodated in Bilje were interested in the possibilities of returning to their homes and receiving compensation for their destroyed property. (hina) vm 112111 MET sep 96