CRO GOVERNMENT CALLS ON LOCAL SERBS TO HELP FIND MISSING POWS

( Editorial: --> 0100 ) ZAGREB, March 16 (Hina) - Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Kostovic met families of missing people and prisoners-of-war in Zagreb on Monday. The meeting discussed the exhumation of bodies of Croatian defenders and civilians in the regions of Banovina (100km south of Zagreb) and western Slavonia, as well as the search for missing people in the Sava River Valley region and the Kupres area in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Also present were members of the Government's Commission for Missing Persons and Prisoners. "The analysis of body parts and objects found near the bodies has helped to identify nine victims from the Banovina area," Kostovic said after the meeting. The meeting agreed that the next round of exhumations should start in the Pakrac area (western Slavonia) while other parts of Croatia would be addressed later on. According to Kostovic, the national programme for identification of victims calls for increased data gathering in the Split and Osijek regions, for which citizens of Serb nationality would be requested to provide assistance. Asked whether the Government Commission would request the international community to ask the Serb population for cooperation in this humanitarian endeavour, Kostovic said the international community always insisted on a "unilateral approach". "In practice, this means that the Croatian Government and its services are supposed to come up with information on Serbs, but on the other hand, when it comes to information on missing Croats, Croatia is left to its own devices," Kostovic elaborated. "Unfortunately, this is how things stand." Association of Families of Missing Persons and Prisoners chairman Josip Jugec announced that digging at the Dubrava cemetery in Vukovar would start in April. "Unfortunately, we have not found even one missing defender alive. Croatia is still looking for 2,083 people," Jugec concluded. (hina) mm as/mb 162041 MET mar 98