SERB DEMOCRATIC FORUM CALLS FOR EFFICIENT IMPLEMENTATION OF RETURN

( Editorial: --> 6230 ) ZAGREB, Oct 6 (Hina) - Serbian Democratic Forum (SDF), a Serb minority organisation in Croatia, believes that the Croatian Government should speed up the realisation of all of the aspects of the Return Programme. At a press conference held in Zagreb, the leaders of the forum said that obtaining necessary documents is the main problem faced by returnees, adding that housing commissions and local committees for reconstruction were inefficient. The forum estimated that 20-30 percent of the temporary tenants in Serb owned flats or houses are not in fact refugees, and they can return to their homes in other parts of Croatia. A SDF Banija and Kordun branch (Central Croatia) representative said that 80 percent of the returnees in that region had arrived from refugee camps in Serbia that are being closed down. A large number of these refugees is extremely poor and are now faced with nothing but demolished houses. Usually they end up in Sisak's refugee camp, said Minko Minic, the SDF representative for Banija and Kordun, adding that the Kostajnica and Kukuruzari refugees are in the most difficult position. The SDF representative for Dalmatia and west Slavonia Ratko Gajica asserted that the security situation in that area had deteriorated. The police is doing its job and so are terrorists. Some people believe that they have a legal right to swear at the returnees and at people who lived in Knin during the war, Gajica said stressing that the lawlessnes was not dependant on the central government". (hina) it jn/sp 061734 MET oct 98