23 FAMILIES RETURN TO CROATIAN DANUBE REGION

VUKOVAR, Aug 7 (Hina) - Twenty-three displaced families with 44 members made an organized return to the Danube region of eastern Croatia to date, while 114 families with 244 members returned from the Danube region to other parts of Croatia, on the basis of an agreement on a two-way return of displaced Croats and Serbs signed by the Croatian government, UNTAES and UNHCR, the UNTAES' Vukovar- based Department for Displaced Persons said on Thursday. Goran Stigmar, the head of t he Department, said the UN transitional administrator for the Croatian Danube region, Jacques Klein, asked that a total of 10,000 persons return in both directions by the end of September - 5,000 in each direction. Stigmar was satisfied that the two-way return had begun and assessed it was accelerating. Speaking about the logistic organization of the return, Stigmar said that Croatia's Defense Minister had assented that the Croatian Army assist the Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees in the two-way return. According to the head of the Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees, Lovro Pejkovic, to date the Office issued certificates for the return of 466 displaced families (1,158 members) to the Croatian Danube region, and certificates for the return of 1,063 families (2,043 members) from the Croatian Danube region to other parts of Croatia. He also added that 252 houses in the municipality of Nijemci had recently been reconstructed. (hina) ha jn 071606 MET aug 97