UNTAES SPOKESMAN ARNOLD HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE IN VUKOVAR

VUKOVAR $ VUKOVAR, Sept 8 (Hina) - The UN transitional administrator for the Danube region of eastern Croatia, William Walker, is to start working on a report to the UN secretary general on the situation in the Danube region and regions included in the two-way return programme, UNTAES spokesman Philip Arnold told reporters in Vukovar on Monday. Under Resolution 1120 of the UN Security Council, UN's secretary general must by submit his report to the Security Council by 6 October, so that the latter could pass a new resolution on the situation in the Croatian Danube region by 15 October, said spokesman Arnold. Like the UN Security Council in passing the new resolution, Walker would in his report focus on details indicated in Resolution 1120, such as the two-way return, the social, civic and security situation in the return + areas, and the cooperation of both sides in the peaceful reintegration, Arnold said. Arnold explained the proposition of a reconciliation between Serbs and Croats in Croatia, and again denied claims that it referred to a reconciliation between Croatia and Yugoslavia. According to the UN spokesman, this notion was indicated in Article 16 of Resolution 1120. Former UN transitional administrator Jacques Klein and the current one, Walker, discussed this matter with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman who agreed to it in principle, he added. Asked if a big celebration is expected in Croatia on 12 November, the day when the Erdut Accord on the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region was signed, and at which UN Secretary General Kofi Annan would also be invited, Arnold said he had heard the Croatian government was considering the possibility of inviting Annan to Croatia. But to Arnold's knowledge, no invitation had as yet been sent. According to the UNTAES spokesman, transitional administrator Walker would meet with officials of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague next Monday, while the day after he would meet with Croatia's Foreign Minister, Mate Granic, in Zagreb. The two-way return was accelerating, Arnold said, adding that some 6,000 Serbs and 1,400 Croats had so far returned in various ways. There were 584 houses in the Croatian Danube region into which Croats could move in, he added. Speaking about the regime of crossing check-points at former separation lines, Arnold said that more than 12,000 Croatian license plates and some 3,000 passes for entering the UN-administered area had been issued to date. Buses were crossing the area daily on 30 lines, he added. Anybody could enter the Croatian Danube region every day without problems, Arnold said, adding the control of vehicles at check-points would continue unaltered and for an undetermined period. Speaking about other examples of the peaceful reintegration, Arnold said the Joint Council of Municipalities of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem was recently registered in line with Croatian law. In relation to the beginning of the new school year, which started today, the UNTAES spokesman said that about 40 percent of offices of managers and assistant managers went to Serbs. Arnold was satisfied with the fact that all pupils had the possibility of choosing the language in which they would attend classes. (hina) ha jn 081740 MET sep 97