ZAGREB, 31 Jan (Hina) - There were currently 23 offices for the issuing of Croatian documents and ten offices for the payment of pension allowances in the UNTAES region. Twenty offices for the issuing of Croatian papers and eight
offices for the distribution of pension allowances were working normally, said Philip Arnold, spokesman for the U.N. Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES), speaking at a press conference in Zagreb on Friday.
ZAGREB, 31 Jan (Hina) - There were currently 23 offices for the
issuing of Croatian documents and ten offices for the payment of
pension allowances in the UNTAES region. Twenty offices for the
issuing of Croatian papers and eight offices for the distribution
of pension allowances were working normally, said Philip Arnold,
spokesman for the U.N. Transitional Administration in Eastern
Slavonia (UNTAES), speaking at a press conference in Zagreb on
Friday. #L#
'As of today, the three documents offices in the towns of
Bobota, Brsadin and Negoslavci are not working. In Bobota, there
was a town meeting two nights ago and the conclusion of the local
mayors and officials was that the community did not want the
documents offices there.'
However, they announced that they would reconsider the issue
on Monday.
Local authorities in Negoslavci did not want a documents
office either.
Out of ten offices for pension payment - four permanent and
six movable - eight were working, while two were closed currently,
Arnold said.
After the stoning of offices for pension payment in Borovo
Selo, which happened on Wednesday, 29 January, local Serb
authorities held a meeting which was also attended by UNTAES
representatives, Arnold said.
The Serb leaders Goran Hadzic and Vojislav Stanimirovic said
during the meeting that the official decision of the local
leadership was 'to take documents, to participate in the elections
and to stay in the region'.
'Hadzic said he would stay in the region', Arnold said.
The movable office for pension payment in Borovo Selo had been
moved three km from the village, at the entrance of Vukovar.
The overwhelming proportion of population in the Croatian
Danubian area wanted Croatian documents so that they could take
part in the elections and they were interested in receiving
pensions. However, there were small groups of extremists in many
villages who were intimidating people for personal or political
aims. Criminal activities had been going on for quite some time in
the area and local criminals were interested in maintaining the
current state of lawlessness. That was why incidents which happened
did not have exclusively political background, but were part of
criminal acts, Arnold said.
By Thursday, some 40,000 persons had received Croatian
citizenship certificates. Among 12,000 persons who had permanent
residence in the Croatian Danubian area before the war in 1991 and
who were eligible for pensions, some 5,000 had received pensions.
The rest of them should receive their money in the next seven
days.
Another 8,000 people in the Croatian Danubian area, who lived
elsewhere in Croatia in 1991, were eligible for pensions.
They would be the second group to receive advance pension
allowances.
'There has been a continuation of the weapons buy-back program
in the region, which is part of Croatian nation-wide program which
has been going on for several months....since the program has began
two and a half months ago, the officials have purchased 1,782
rifles, 3,780 anti-tank rockets, 6,855 grenades and 282,000 rounds
of ammunition'.
One of the questions at the press conference was which
conditions had to be met so that the regular implementation of
local elections could take place, considering the current situation
in the area.
'The Croatian government has to announce itself when it wants
the elections....there is a necessity that the Croatian government
fully cooperate in speedily issuing Croatian citizenship
certificates and ID cards to everybody who is qualified to have
them since you have to have them in order to vote. That process is
going on pretty well', Arnold said.
It was also necessary to gather complete information about the
1991 census, so that voters registers could be prepared, he added.
Those were not only data relating to the Croatian Danubian
area, but to the whole country, since there were people in the
U.N.-administered area who lived in other parts of Croatia in 1991.
That was a demanding task and immediate cooperation of
Croatian authorities was needed in gathering those data, Arnold
said.
According to various estimates, some 130,000 to 160,000 people
lived in the Croatian Danubian area currently. Out of that number,
9,000 were members of the Hungarian minority, 8,000 were Croats,
several thousand persons had come from Bosnia and Herzegovina and
the rest were two groups of Serbs - the one were those Serbs who
lived in the area before 1991 and the other those who later arrived
in the area from other parts of Croatia.
It was not possible to estimate the number of people who would
take Croatian documents and remain in the Croatian Danubian area,
Arnold said.
Those who had decided to leave, would do it of their own
accord and therefore would not be treated as refugees, but economic
emigrants, he said.
During a recent visit of Vojislav Stanimirovic to the Bosnian
Serb leadership in Pale, there had been some talk about the
settling of those Serbs who did not want to stay in Croatia in
Republika Srpska, Arnold said.
Stanimirovic had been told that Republika Srpska did not want
to encourage their arrival because of a lack of economic potential,
Arnold said.
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311733 MET jan 97