'RECONCILIATION' IS, PERHAPS, WRONG WORD - ARNOLD

VUKOVAR, Sept 15 (Hina) - By an idea about reconciliation between nationalities in Croatia nobody wanted to suggest that a civil war, instead of Serb aggression, was waged in Croatia. Nobody wanted to make people suffering from war trauma begin loving one another. Perhaps, the word "reconciliation" itself was wrong. What was wanted is that the Croatian government and local Serb leadership may start activities aimed at offering help to people to realise that they would live together, said a spokesman for the UN Transitional Administration in Croatian Danube area (UNTAES). The spokesman Philip Arnold said at a news conference on Monday that the reconciliation between ethnic groups had been envisaged as a long-term process. An idea that the celebration should be on 12 November, the day when the Erdut agreement was signed, appeared later, and was not proposed by UNTAES. UNTAES only proposed that the process should in some way start, Arnold said. He added that in coming days only one container and a barrier would remain at each check-point in the area, and as of Monday the check-points were controlled only by the transitional police. UNTAES was considering a Croatian proposal that cars be able to enter the area in an easier way, Arnold told reporters and added that it was not done up to now due to occasional provocative acts of people driving cars from other Croatian parts into the Danube area. (hina) jn mš 152026 MET sep 97