CRO & YUGOSLAV COMMISSIONS FOR MISSING PERSONS EXCHANGE DATA

( Editorial: --> 9418 ) ZAGREB, Feb 4 (Hina) - Commissions for missing persons of Croatia and Yugoslavia exchanged protocols for identified and unidentified persons over a two-day meeting in Zagreb. According to the president of the Croatian commission, Ivan Grujic, the meeting was more successful than previous ones as the Croatian side obtained medical protocols for 393 deceased persons buried at the new cemetery in Vukovar, eastern Croatia. Croatia is tracing 2,151 missing person, of whom 1,345 are from the Danube river region of eastern Croatia, Grujic said. The two-day meeting also tackled the issue of 300 persons buried on Yugoslav territory, as documented by the International Red Cross and the International Commission for Tracing Missing Persons, he added. Proceedings were initiated for shedding light on the fate of persons gone missing during military liberation operations Flash and Storm, under which the largest part of Croatian territory were liberated from Serb occupation in 1995, Grujic said. The Croatian side has so far submitted 387, the Yugoslav side 350, protocols for unidentified persons, Grujic said. He added Croatia had given the names of 242 identified persons, thus submitting relevant data for shedding light on the fate of a total of 669 cases. Croatia sees the tracing of missing persons as an important humanitarian issue and for this reason does not stand for parity in submitting data, Grujic said. The issue of missing persons in Bosnia-Herzegovina is being resolved through a working group set by the international community, he added. The president of the Yugoslav commission for missing persons, Maksim Korac, said he expected the delivery of an additional 609 files. Yugoslavia is looking for 3,130 missing persons, including 2,500 parents of people who took refuge in Yugoslavia, he said. Korac said the Yugoslav commission had delivered all 700 files in its possession, in the hope the majority of the cases will be cleared. (hina) ha jn 041932 MET feb 98