U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS RAPPORTEUR VISITS DANUBE RIVER REGION

( Editorial: --> 6955 ) VUKOVAR, July 10 (Hina) - The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier, visited the Croatian Danube River region on Friday. Dienstbier held talks behind closed doors with representatives of international organisations and local refugee and displaced people associations and the chairman of the Government Commission for Missing and Imprisoned Persons, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Grujic. In a short address to reporters between the two meetings, Dienstbier did not comment on the human rights situation in the Danube region, explaining that this was his first informative visit to the area. The UN rapporteur is visiting the Danube region as part of a four- day visit to Croatia, from July 9 to 14. He will meet Foreign Affairs Minister Mate Granic and other state officials, representatives of international organisations operating in Croatia and leaders of opposition parties, and visit western Slavonia. The purpose of the visit is for Dienstbier to get acquainted with the human rights situation in Croatia, said a statement from the UN office for human rights in Zagreb. Dienstbier told reporters in Vukovar on Friday that despite hatred which was still being felt among people in the Croatian Danube region, he observed a stronger will for cooperation and establishment of trust. (Hina) mbr jn /rml 101904 MET jul 98