U.S. AMBASSADOR VISITS GLINA

GLINA, Nov 19 (Hina) - U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter W. Galbraith, visited the town of Glina (70 kms south of Zagreb), on Tuesday. U.S. Ambassador and Glina authorities talked about the situation and the reconstruction of the municipality, liberated in the 1995 military action "Storm". The talks also revolved around the care for citizens of Serb nationality who remained in the area and around possible return of Serbs who had fled it and are now mostly living in the Croatian Danubian area. Galbraith said that much was done last year to get the life back to normal, to help displaced persons to return and to rebuild the war-damaged area. He said that the system of authorities had began to function. The Glina mayor Marko Sremic said that more than 5,000 displaced Croats had returned to Glina and its surroundings, adding that in the wake of the liberation 1,200 citizens of the Serb origin remained in the area, while 190 Serbs came back to the area in the last fifteen months. The Glina authorities allowed returnees, who could not occupy their own ruined and looted houses, to use temporarily 2,100 abandoned houses and flats. On Tuesday afternoon Galbraith paid a private visit to a former Glina judge Radovan Jovic. Galbraith said that he had met Jovic in 1994 and that he was one of rare opponents of extremist and fascistic policies of the Serb rebels in the area. (hina) mm mš 192023 MET nov 96