SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH IN CROATIA APPEALS TO SERBS TO STAY, VOTE

ZAGREB, March 4 (Hina) - The Serbian Orthodox Church in Croatia on Tuesday appealed to the Orthodox believers in the UN-administered Danube region not to leave the region and to participate in elections scheduled for April 13. The message was sent in a statement from a meeting of the Serbian Orthodox clergy in Zagreb on March 3-4,. "Taking into account the political views and aspirations of UN Transitional Administrator General Jacques Klein, UN human rights envoy Elizabeth Rehn, public statements urging the Serbs to stay in the region, and statements by US Ambassador Peter Galbraith, we call on all our faithful living in the region not to leave their ancient hearths and to participate in the local elections, and thus express their political will in exercising the religious, national, cultural and other rights guaranteed by the international community. "We call on the Croatian authorities and the Serb authorities in the Croatian Danube region to cooperate even better in the process of peaceful reintegration to the benefit of both peoples, respecting the principle of tolerance and aware of the far-reaching effects of the process," said the statement signed by the Metropolitan of Zagreb, Jovan. (hina) vm jn 041848 MET mar 97