CROATIA ISSUES 108,455 DOCUMENTS TO DANUBE REGION RESIDENTS

NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Hina) - The Croatian government said in a statement on Wednesday it had issued 108,455 documents to the residents of the Danube region of eastern Croatia, out of 114,794 applications. "The issuance rate of 94 percent is exceptionally high considering that the Government often lacks the needed verifying documents from the areas that are or were under Serb control," the statement, distributed by the Croatian mission to the United Nations in New York, said. "In many cases such government registers were intentionally destroyed or taken to Serbia; some were destroyed due to fighting." By February 24, 72,874 applications for citizenship certificates, needed for voter registration, were received, of which 66,726 were granted - 45,639 certificates were issued to the pre-war residents of the region and 21,087 to those who moved into the region after 1991; 6,148 applications are still being processed. During the same period, 41,920 persons applied for identification cards, of which 28,259 were issued to domiciled residents and 13,470 to people who settled in the region after the war; 191 applications are still being processed. "The success of the documents program is due in part to the tremendous resources the Government has committed to the task. Over the past month the number of issuance offices has increased from seven to 23. All but two are open - accepting applications and distributing documents - despite a number of violent attacks and other forms of interference. The offices in Brsadin and Negoslavci are still closed for security reasons. The offices are staffed by mobile units which are assigned to offices depending on required capacity. The Government has also pre-printed documents based on 1991 census and registers. For instance, 92,000 (citizenship certificates) have been pre-printed. In effect, documents can simply be picked up. "As a result, most documents are issued immediately upon submission of an application. In general, applications are processed within a maximum of seven days. In some cases when this is not possible - the applicant names could not be found in the 1991 citizenship registers, or particular registers are missing - the applicants are required, like all other residents of Croatia, to submit additional documentation in support of their application. It often requires one to apply for naturalized citizenship. This process requires research and verification time that is case specific. In the past, 98 percent of this type of applications have been resolved positively," the statement concluded. (hina) mš vm jn 261255 MET feb 97