CROATIA AND U.N. TO WORK OUT PLAN OF RETURN OF DISPLACED PERSONS

ZAGREB, March 21 (Hina) - The Croatian government and UN officials agreed in Zagreb on Friday to urgently set up a working group to deal with the return of Croatian displaced persons to the UN-administered Danube River region as the top priority issue in the process of peaceful reintegration of the region into Croatia. The agreement was reached at a meeting of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman with the head of the UN Transitional Administration in the Danube region (UNTAES), Jacques Klein, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata. The meeting was also attended by Presidential Chief of Staff Hrvoje Sarinic, Deputy Chief of Staff Vesna Skare Ozbolt, Humanitarian Affairs Adviser Slobodan Lang and Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Kostovic. "We agreed that the return of displaced persons is the most important issue in the next stage of the peaceful reintegration process," Kostovic told reporters after the talks. The working group would consist of representatives of the Croatian Ministry of Reconstruction and Development, UNTAES and UNHCR who would work out a plan of return. Describing the talks as open and useful, Ogata said that at the moment the main goal of the peaceful reintegration was to ensure the equal status of all citizens and a peaceful, two-way return of people to their homes. Ogata said that people should be given the opportunity to repair their houses or compensation. Kostovic said that the meeting reaffirmed that all citizens of Croatia had equal rights before the law to repair their homes. Speaking of the past 15 months of the UNTAES mandate in the Danube region, Klein said that the region had been demilitarised and the situation defused, and that an increasing number of people were taking out Croatian citizenship documents. The next important task after July, when the UNTAES mandate expires, would be the return of refugees, Klein said, adding that the return process could begin soon after local elections scheduled for April 13. Klein said that the key task was to form a working group of Croatian government, UNHCR and UNTAES representatives to work out a plan for the return of displaced people. The return of Croatian displaced persons is a long-term process and will not happen overnight, Klein stressed. Speaking of his meeting with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday, Klein said that they had sent a message to the Serbs in the Danube region that it was the right time for them to take out Croatian documents and register for the ballot. We have the support of the Yugoslav side for the elections to take place on April 13, he added. As regards the demilitarization of the region, dual citizenship and a soft border crossing regime between Croatia and Yugoslavia, Klein said that those were the issues of bilateral relations between the two countries and that they were being discussed. There is hope that the question of dual citizenship will be solved in a few days, Klein said. (hina) vm jn 211657 MET mar 97