DISPLACED PERSONS FROM ALJMAS WANT TO CELEBRATE ASSUMPTION AT HOME

HOME $ OSIJEK, July 28 (Hina) - Parish priest Ante Markic, director of the Aljmas + Sanctuary in exile, on Monday forwarded letters to the UN Transitional Administrator for the Croatian Danube river region, General Jacques Klein, and UNTAES military commander Willy Hanset, asking them to make possible the celebration of the Assumption in Aljmas on 15 August. Father Markic stressed in the letter that Assumption had been celebrated in Aljmas for almost three centuries, always with the participation of numerous + pilgrims from Slavonia, Baranja, Vojvodina and northern Bosnia-Herzegovina, adding that + the holiday had not only been celebrated by Croats, but also Hungarians, Slovaks, Ukrainians, even religious Serb Orthodox. "On Assumption day in the little village of Aljmas, near Osijek, 1,500 + faithful were known to gather," Markic said, stressing that access to the sanctuary, + which had been completely destroyed, had been prevented for six years now. Markic called on Klein and Hanset to join the pilgrims. Another letter was sent to Klein and Hanset on behalf of displaced people from Aljmas by the president of the Aljmas local committee, asking for access into + Aljmas to celebrate the religious holiday of Assumption. (hina) lm mm 281409 MET jul 97