OSCE SAYS SITUATION IN CROATIA BETTER THAN BEFORE

( Editorial: --> 0888 ) ZAGREB, Sept 16 (Hina) - The situation in Croatia is better than it used to be thanks to the progress that has been made in the return of Croatian Serbs, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Croatia head Tim Guldimann told reporters in Zagreb on Wednesday. However, there has been no progress in the reform of Croatian Radio Television (HRT) and the election law, he added. The OSCE Mission head spoke about the main assessments from the latest OSCE report on how the Croatian Government had been fulfilling its international commitments in the past four months. The latest report is more positive than the May report, said Guldimann, who discussed the OSCE's views regarding Croatia with NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana and the EU commissioner for foreign relations, Hans van den Broek, in Brussels last week. The OSCE believes that the Government return programme helped achieve certain progress in the return of Croatian Serbs, especially regarding the total number of returnees, Guldimann said. However, no or very little progress has been made in changing the law on the HRT or the election law, he added. To continue the positive development, new steps and changes have to be made exactly in these three areas, Guldimann said adding the Brussels meeting revolved around the return of refugees and reforms to state television and the election law. The first group of 21 OSCE monitors have arrived in Croatia and on January 16 they are to take over the supervision of police forces in the Danube region from the United Nations, OSCE spokesman Mark Thompson said. A total of 412 refugees from Yugoslavia and the Bosnian Serb entity have returned to Croatia in the past seven days, UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said. Mahecic especially commended the work of regional offices for displaced people and refugees in Knin and Sisak. (hina) jn rml/mbr. 161903 MET sep 98