CRO GOVT SPOKESMAN COMMENTS ON UNSC PRESIDENTIAL STATEMENT

( Editorial: --> 9332 ) ZAGREB, March 13 (Hina) - The spokesman for the Croatian Government on Friday expressed surprise that the Security Council had found it necessary last Friday to devote a presidential statement to the situation in the Croatian Danubian area at a moment when peace in the region was threatened by conflicts in Kosovo. This was even more disconcerting since the statement itself noted that the situation in the Danubian area was stable, spokesman Neven Jurica said. The Republic of Croatia was the only side to this conflict which, wronged as it was by unwarranted attack and aggression, registered a high number of returnees who had been members of occupying and rebel forces, Jurica said. "The Croatian Danubian area is no longer and cannot be any threat to the security in the region," Jurica said. Croatia therefore expected the international community to use its influence to improve the climate for the establishment of trust and to ensure that persons accused of war crimes in Vukovar and other parts of Croatia, such as JNA officers Mile Mrksic, Veselin Sljivancanin and others, be brought to swift justice, Jurica said. He reiterated the Croatian Government's commitment to continue pursuing the policy of confidence-building, normalisation of life and speedy two-way return, for which the Government was currently drawing up the necessary legal framework. The Government was also considering rescinding the law on the temporary takeover and management of abandoned property and the renting of housing space in war-affected areas. The Government has taken up the obligation to ensure the speedy return of a hundred economically challenged families and to build flats for another two thousand returnee families as soon as possible. Furthermore, Development and Reconstuction Minister Jure Radic recently signed a contract for the reconstruction of 1,700 family homes in the Croatian Danubian area, Jurica said. "The Croatian Government stresses its commitment to not allowing any provocations which would compromise this steadfast Croatian policy," Jurica emphasised. He said the Defence and National Security Council urged the Govnerment last week to introduce a moratorium on political rallies in the Danubian area. Concerning the departure of Serbs from the Danubian area, Jurica said the few hundred Serbs who had left the area since the restoration of Croatian authority was a small number compared to the 40,000 Serbs who had left while the area was under transitional UN administration. Jurica also noted the perplexing impatience of the international community and its excessive preoccupation with the issue of economic emigration. "Such impatience and such preocuppation are not grounded in reality and are not politically justified," Jurica concluded. (hina) jn as 131515 MET mar 98