SITUATION IN DANUBE REGION STABILE -TRUST ESTABLISHMENT COMMITTEE

( Editorial: --> 3345 ) VUKOVAR, Nov 24 (Hina) - The Croatian national committee for the trust establishment, the accelerated return and the normalisation of life in the war-affected Croatian areas on Monday described a general situation in the Croatian Danube river region as stabile. It added that more and more displaced people were returning to their homes in the Danube region despite various difficulties. The committee held a closed-door session in Vukovar on Monday and representatives of the UN Transitional Administration for the region (UNTAES), local authorities, the Transitional Police Force and the government's office for the displaced and refugees attended the meeting. After the session, the committee's chairwoman Vesna Skare-Ozbolt told reporters that bodies of the local self-government would get additional financial means, since a lack of money presented a problem for their work. She said that 87 people had returned to Vukovar and described this as great progress. The committee's deputy chairman, Vojislav Stanimirovic, informed about agreement on accelerating and facilitating the issuance of border passes for local border traffic between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia/Montenegro). An agreement on local border traffic takes effect on 1 December this year.. Stanimirovic said that undergraduates and pupils from the Croatian Danube river area going to school in Yugoslavia as well as residents of villages that are not covered by the agreement on the local border traffic would be granted long-term Yugoslav visas. (hina) jn mš 241705 MET nov 97