ROUND TABLE ON RETURN OF CROATIAN DISPLACED PEOPLE

ZAGREB, Jan 23 (Hina) - Some 50,000 displaced people had returned to their destroyed neighbourhoods close to the disengagement lines near occupied territories in the past two years, a round table discussion on the return of displaced people and the post-war reconstruction heard today in Zagreb. The round table, organized by the Croatian Government Office for Refugees and Displace People, was attended by government officials, representatives of international humanitarian organisations, officials from regional refugee offices and members of the Association of Displace People in Croatia. Croatian deputy prime minister, Ivica Kostovic, welcomed round table participants, and among other things, repeated that the return of displaced people to their homes was a priority task for Croatia. The head of the Government Office for Refugees and Displaced People, Adalbert Rebic, said that during the war some 160,000 houses or flats (11 per cent of the housing fund) were destroyed. The main problem in returning displaced people to their home was financing the repairs on the damaged and destroyed homes, Rebic emphasized adding that around 263 million kuna (76.7 million DEM) were granted for the reconstruction through the Office for Reconstruction. (hina) jn sd mms 232049 MET jan 95