KLEIN ADVISES LOCAL SERBS TO STAY IN CROATIA

OSIJEK, Jan 29 (Hina) - The Transitional Administrator of the Croatian Danubian area, General Jacques Klein, on Tuesday called on local Serbs in the UNTAES-controlled eastern Croatian area to decide independently, by using their democratic right, whether to remain living in the area or to leave it. Gen. Klein forwarded a message to the Serb population in late Tuesday's broadcast on the local television of Beli Manastir. Commenting on a Letter of Intent by the Croatian Government about the completion of peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danubian area, he said it contained proposals that meet the highest international standards. The Letter also offered promises for the safe future and included international obligations of Croatia. Local Serb representatives' insistence on that the UNTAES- controlled area should be a special county paralyzed negotiations on elections, the Transitional Administrator said. Such demand had neither support from the international community nor the basis in the Erdut (Basic) Agreement, he said and noted that such single county had not existed before the war and that its creation would be call for division rather than unity. It's time when the UNTAES could do less and less and when it has been up to the local population and the Croatian Government to assume responsibility for the future, according to his message. The UNTAES would not help the local population unless they helped themselves, Klein said. The UNTAES had basically done its political duties. It created conditions for people in the area to use their democratic right to stay or go. If they opted for departure, they would leave as economic emigrants according to their own free choice, heading for the uncertain future in volatile areas, the Transitional Administrator said. He told the local population not to heed extremists' calls to refuse Croatian citizenship certificates. They (extremists) wanted to deny the electoral right of the local residents and lead them in exodus, he added. Klein called local residents to use their right to vote and to assume both their full rights and obligations under the Croatian Constitution and Law. He stressed that all displaced persons had the right to return to their homes. This year must be a year of return and reconciliation. He added the international aid was of great significance for stepping up the process of return and for ensuring the security and safety of returnees. He addressed the TV audience as the "citizens of Croatia", and reiterated that they had to choose. One path was leading to safe and dignified future in the country of ancestors, and the other was heading for exile in uncertainty in simmering lands, Klein said in his message. (hina) jn mš 291351 MET jan 97