A memorandum which defines roles and powers in the process of transfer of authority in the management of data on missing persons was signed in the government headquarters by Deputy PM Jadranka Kosor and the ICRC deputy operations manager for Europe and America, Olivier Martin.
Of the 18,000 persons listed missing, imprisoned or abducted at the beginning of the war in 1991, 1,131 remain unaccounted for, Kosor said.
The Croatian government will also continue processing 946 requests regarding Croatian citizens who went missing in 1995, Kosor added.
Martin said that the closing down of the Zagreb office did not mean that the ICRC was withdrawing from the process of search, but that it would support the Red Cross Croatia which would take over the management and processing of files on missing persons.
The ICRC official thanked the government, its commission for missing persons and the Red Cross for a job well done, and the media for maintaining public interest in issues related to missing persons.
The ICRC will send letters to families that are still looking for their dearest ones asking for permission to transfer the files to the Red Cross Croatia, Martin said.
Since the beginning of its mission in Croatia in 1991, the ICRC has received requests on 5,774 missing persons, of which 2,400 remain unsolved.