REBIC, EIFF VISIT OSIJEK-BASED OFFICE FOR REFUGEES

OSIJEK, March 5 (Hina) - German foreign ministry ambassador for humanitarian aid Hansjoerg Eiff and head of the Croatian government office for refugees Adalbert Rebic met with the head of the Osijek- based office for refugees Jasna Zdravcevic on Saturday. Noting that eastern Slavonia had suffered the worst damage during Serbian aggression, Rebic thanked Germany for its generous assistance. Zdravcevic said over 70,000 refugees and displaced persons were accommodated in the Osijek area, and their number daily increased, as Croats were forced to flee the Serb-occupied region of Baranja. She explained that Osijek could not afford to provide such a huge number of people with decent housing and ensure a minimal degree of intimacy to families. She appealed to Germany not to press the return of Croatian refugees accommodated in Germany, most of whom are from eastern Croatia. Ambassador Eiff pointed out that, while Germany was willing to continue assisting Croatia, it could not solve the problems of the refugees on its own. He recalled that Germany catered for over 700,000 refugees, mostly from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Noting that the situation in Mostar and other places in Bosnia he had visited was much worse, Ambassador Eiff said some of the refugees would have to return, at least to those areas where there were conditions for their accommodation. Ambassador Eiff and Adalbert Rebic are visiting various refugee centres in eastern Slavonia on Saturday. 051059 MET mar 94