CROATIAN & YUGOSLAV COMMISSIONS FOR MISSING MEET IN ZAGREB

( Editorial: --> 9118 ) ZAGREB, 3 Feb (Hina) - The Croatian and Yugoslav commissions for missing persons met in Zagreb on Tuesday. The meeting is being held behind closed doors. It is expected that a joint statement will be issued upon its completion. "Expectations from today's meeting are great," Croatian Vice Premier Ivica Kostovic said before the meeting. In August last year the Yugoslav side promised to hand over 369 medical protocols. The protocols should be the basis of an exhumation, which is to start at the new Vukovar cemetery on 16 February, Kostovic added. Progress could be achieved by obtaining data which could help in the discovery of some other locations where victims were buried, or by obtaining data which could help in solving individual cases, Kostovic said. The Croatian side is not setting any conditions when it comes to the hand-over of data requested by families of missing persons who are currently in Yugoslavia or are Yugoslav citizens, Kostovic said. All Croatian citizens, regardless of their nationality, who are searching for their family members and live in Croatia, are directed to the Red Cross or the Croatian government Commission for Imprisoned and Missing Persons. Croatian citizens - refugees, who are now in Yugoslavia and are searching for their family members who went missing during the Croatian police and army operation 'Storm' in 1995 are advised on the basis of international conventions to submit individual requests through the Croatian Red Cross, Kostovic said. We welcome the international initiative, especially that of the International Commission for Missing Persons, Kostovic said, adding that the joint statement, to be issued after the meeting, would show whether any progress had been made. The meeting in Zagreb is also attended by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Commission for Missing Persons. (hina) jn rm 031658 MET feb 98