ANNIVERSARY OF ERDUT PEACE AGREEMENT MARKED

ERDUT, Nov 12 (Hina) - US ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith and former peace mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg of Norway visited the UN-administered region of eastern Croatia on Tuesday to attend a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the signing of the Erdut agreement on the peaceful reintegration of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem into the Croatian constitutional and administrative system. They were accompanied by the ambassadors of Contact Group member states, Gavin Hewitt of Britain and Jean Jacques Gaillard of France. The ceremony in Erdut was also attended by UN Transitional Administrator US General Jacques Klein, the head of the government office for restoration of Croatian authority in the region, Ivica Vrkic, his deputy Mirko Tankosic, and local Serb representatives. In the morning, Galbraith and Stoltenberg toured the villages of Lipovac, Apsevci, Podgrade and Nijemci which had been handed over to Croatian authorities and the Djeletovci oil field. They also visited the office for issuing Croatian documents in Vukovar. In the evening, Klein, Stoltenberg and the ambassadors of the Contact Group member states would be received in Zagreb by the Croatian President's Chief of Staff, Hrvoje Sarinic. (hina) vm jn 121738 MET nov 96