NATIONAL TRUST ESTABLISHMENT COMMITTEE MEETS IN VUKOVAR

( Editorial: --> 6445 ) VUKOVAR, 22 Jan (Hina) - By re-establishing complete sovereignty over the Croatian Danube River region, Croatia has taken on full responsibility for the situation in that region. We will continue to work on the safe and organised two-way return of people to their homes as well as on repairing houses, improving the economy, finding missing and imprisoned persons and organising their exchange, leaders of the National Trust Establishment Committee said during a meeting with local officials from the region and representatives of the international community, held in Vukovar on Thursday. It was said at the meeting that the local authorities and local property commissions should actively participate in the whole process, especially when it comes to the two-way return, in order to intercede and counter any incidents between owners and temporary tenants of houses in the Croatian Danube River region. With the intention of normalising life in the region as soon as possible, the Croatian Defence and National Security Council (VONS) has suggested the formation of a coordinating body for the implementation of the government policy in the areas of Osijek- Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem Counties which were under UN transitional administration. The President and Deputy President of the National Trust Establishment Committee, Vesna Skare-Ozbolt and Ivica Vrkic, would work in that body, as well as Assistant Interior Minister Josko Moric, whose office is in Vukovar. The coordinating body will work on a day-to-day basis with local leaders in resolving concrete problems, especially in regards to the two-way return, as well as other difficulties in the process of normalising life in the Croatian Danube River region, said Vesna Skare-Ozbolt. Josko Moric assessed the security situation in the region as being very stable but added that some problems in the return process were getting more notice than they deserve. People who live in other's houses in the Croatian Danube River region often cause problems as soon as the owners come into contact with them, said Moric adding it was not the responsibility of the police to solve those sorts of problems. Moric called on the local government authorities to take on legal and political responsibility for the two-way return. The head of the Government Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees, Lovre Pejkovic, said an illegal tenant could only be forced to leave a house by court order. However, many people who left the region are still registered as residents, he added. According to information from the Office, there are between 3,000 and 3,500 families from other areas of Croatia living in other people's homes in the Danube River region. About 1,200 families changed their place of residence within the region. Tim Guldimann, head of the OSCE mission in Croatia, and Souren Seraydarian, the UN Secretary General's representative and head of the UNCIVPOL support group in the Croatian Danube River region, expressed the international community's praise for the peaceful reintegration process and asked the Croatian Government to continue with its policy. They emphasised that they would not tolerate an unorganised return. As people are returning to settlements that were previously battlefields, these areas should be cleared of land mines as a matter of urgency, it was said at the meeting. It is necessary to decide how long a house can be empty to deem that the temporary tenant has actually left and that the real owner can return, participants at the meeting said. (hina) jn mrb 221952 MET jan 98