KOSOVO CROAT REFUGEES MEET GOVT REPRESENTATIVES

ZAGREB, 3 March (Hina) - Croatian government representatives, headed by Vice Premier Ljerka Mintas-Hodak, on Monday held talks with a delegation of Croat refugees from Kosovo, currently accommodated in the villages of Vocin and Djulovac in western Slavonia (some 100 km east of Zagreb). Around 5,000 Kosovo Croats have so far settled in the two villages. Assistant Reconstruction Minister Stjepan Sterc said that the talks had focused on numerous problems of Kosovo Croats. 'We have agreed to devise programs of allocation of state land and loans to private estates which want to specialize in farming', Sterc said. Out of the 5,000 Croats living currently in Vocin and Djulovac, some 2,000 will settle the village of Kistanje, southern Croatia, and some 1,500 Croats, who are still living in Kosovo, may also arrive in Croatia, Sterc said. Parish Priest Mato Matic said on behalf of Kosovo Croats that they hoped that Croatia would enable all Kosovo refugees to settle permanently in the areas they are currently living in. (hina) rm jn 031656 MET mar 97