BETWEEN 1,500 AND 2,000 CROAT REFUGEES HAVE RETURNED TO DANUBIAN AREA

AREA $ TOVARNIK, Sept 21 (Hina) - Between 1,500 and 2,000 Croat displaced persons have returned to the Croatian Danube river region so far, mostly into Baranja. They have all been issued verifications for return by the Croatian government Office for Refugees and Displaced Persons, and at least 1,300 such certificates will be issued by Tuesday, so that another 4,000 to 5,000 people can return to their undamaged homes in the area, head of the Office for Refugees and Displaced Persons, Lovro Pejkovic, said on Sunday. Pejkovic told reporters in Tovarnik on Sunday that the certificates would be issued based on information from the recently completed list of houses in 44 villages of the Danubian area. The office would soon issue certificates on return to all owners of houses from the 1st to 3rd category of damage in these villages, so they could prepare the houses for reconstruction, he said. Most undamaged houses were in Baranja, he said, adding that habitable houses in southern Danubian area had already been inhabited. Pejkovic said the government wanted to enable all those with a village in the Danubian area written in their ID cards as their place of residence to enter and exit the region without problems. (hina) lm 211409 MET sep 97