VUKOVAR, SERAYDARIAN PRAISES REFUGEE RETURNS VUKOVAR, Aug 26 (Hina) - Despite an announced visit, the United Nations secretary-general's envoy and coordinator of UN's mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jacques Klein, was unable to visit
the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar on Saturday. Vukovar-Srijem County prefect Petar Cobankovic received the chief of UN's civil administration in BH, Souren Seraydarian, who was to accompany Klein. General Klein, a one-time UN transitional administrator for eastern Croatia, had to return to Zagreb from the Cepin airport, near Osijek, due to "sudden problems", it wa said. Seraydarian showed particular interest in the refugee return process and reconstruction. He said he wanted to transfer Croatia's experience to BH where these issues are much more accentuated. The former deputy transitional administrator and mission chief with UN's transitional police in eastern Croatia positively evaluated the return o
VUKOVAR, Aug 26 (Hina) - Despite an announced visit, the United
Nations secretary-general's envoy and coordinator of UN's mission
to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jacques Klein, was unable to visit the
eastern Croatian town of Vukovar on Saturday.
Vukovar-Srijem County prefect Petar Cobankovic received the chief
of UN's civil administration in BH, Souren Seraydarian, who was to
accompany Klein.
General Klein, a one-time UN transitional administrator for
eastern Croatia, had to return to Zagreb from the Cepin airport,
near Osijek, due to "sudden problems", it wa said.
Seraydarian showed particular interest in the refugee return
process and reconstruction. He said he wanted to transfer Croatia's
experience to BH where these issues are much more accentuated.
The former deputy transitional administrator and mission chief
with UN's transitional police in eastern Croatia positively
evaluated the return of more than half displaced Croats to the
eastern Croatian region of Baranja, and the fact that some 50,000
Croatian Serbs have stayed in eastern Croatia.
Speaking about his visit to the region two and a half years after it
was peacefully reintegrated with the rest of Croatia, Seraydarian
said he noticed that a large number of houses had been reconstructed
in Vukovar but that most seemed uninhabited.
Prefect Cobankovic said the principal reason was the difficult
economic situation in the town, which suffered huge destruction in
last decade's Serb aggression. The absence of economic prospects
has made only 30 percent of its pre-war inhabitants return. He
thanked Seraydarian on everything the UN had done in the peaceful
reintegration of eastern Croatia.
Earlier today, Seraydarian held talks with Vukovar mayor Vladimir
Stengl.
(hina) ha