UNPROFOR REJECTS AGAIN RESTORERS' REQUEST

ZADAR, Aug 16 (Hina) - UNPROFOR command in Sector South, based in occupied Knin, rejected a request of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Zadar to remove the altar from the demolished Church of Our Lady of Health in Pristeg, the Zadar hinterland. This church is in the area which has not been occupied and which was included in the disengagement zone after a withdrawal of the Croatian army troops at the agreed distance in conformity with the 29 March agreement on ceasing of hostilities signed in Zagreb. According to the same agreement, the disengagement zone should have been under the exclusive UNPROFOR control. UNPROFOR officer Denis Preusdell, the representative of the Office for civil affairs in Knin, says in a letter forwarded to deputy prefect of the Zadar-Knin county Pavle Racic that UNPROFOR cannot meet halfway restorers from Zadar because it would increase tension in the area. He writes in the letter that there are mines on the ground around the church and that UNPROFOR is even ready to form an expert team in order to protect the church. During the Serb aggression, the church was hit by several tens of artillery shells and it is almost completely destroyed. At the request of inhabitants of Pristeg, restorers from the Institute tried to remove the altar from the church in order to preserve it from damaging. However, UNPROFOR members did not allow them to take the altar explaining that time that they do not know if the church is a Catholic or Orthodox, although the architecture of the facility shows that it is a Catholic church. Afterwards, the Institute forwarded a written request to UNPROFOR, but the reply was negative as it is mentioned in the text. (hina) jas ks 161625 MET aug 94