CRO DANUBIAN AREA UNDER CRO ADMINSTRATION IN EARLY SPRING - KLEIN

ZAGREB, Oct 8 (Hina) - Transitional administrator for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem General Jacques Klein on Tuesday said he hoped that the Croatian Danubian area would return under the administration of Croatian authority as soon as possible, with spring next year as the aimed deadline. "Our aim is next spring and then terminate the mandate by early summer", Klein told reporters after a meeting with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and added that he always considered the six-month extension of the UNTAES mandate as reasonable. According to the Erdut Agreement on the reintegration of the occupied Croatian Danubian area into Croatia's constitutional system, signed by representatives of local Serb authorities and the Croatian Government on 12 November 1995, the UNTAES mandate lasted one year, with a possible extension for another year, if one side requested it. The UNTAES mandate expires on 15 January 1997. Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Kostovic, also present at the meeting, confirmed that "it was agreed that UNTAES completely transfer administration to Croatia in early spring." The Croatian Government would until then cooperate with and fulfill its financial obligations to UNTAES, while UNTAES would enable the return of displaced persons to the villages included in the return pilot-programme, Kostovic said. Speaking on elections in the Croatian Danubian area, Klein pointed out his desire that they "take place as soon as possible." He added that a UN election officer, who would chair a joint election commission consisting of two Croatian and two Serb representatives, had been appointed. The elections would take place on the basis of voters' lists from 1991, Kostovic said. The talks also discussed the opening of the separation zone as an area for trade and family meetings, Klein concluded. (hina) ha jn 081710 MET oct 96