"CROATIAN ANTI-WAR CAMPAIGN" HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE

ZAGREB, July 5 (Hina) - The UN Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) is open to cooperation with non- governmental organzations, Vesna Terselic of the Croatian Anti- War Campaign told a news conference in Zagreb on Friday. Terselic, who is also the coordinator of peace organizations for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem, said that "the normalization of relations and the reintegration of Eastern Slavonia is often portrayed one-sidedly and this problem is closely related with the return of Serb refugees to Western Slavonia and the former Krajina." She said that Croatian military operations in May and August last year "were in fact ethnic cleansing." "Unless Croatian police is more efficient in investigating and preventing various forms of crime in Western Slavonia and the former Krajina, similar things will happen in Eastern Slavonia," Terselic stressed. The coordinator of the Volunteer Project in Pakrac, Martina Belic, said that Pakrac "is still divided into Croatian and Serb sectors, there's no industry, and the Serb population is unsafe and unprotected." "About 5,000 residents feel demoralized because of the economic situation," she added. Vlado Aleksic of the Committee for Human Rights said local authorities were negligent about problems in the liberated areas. The secretary of the Osijek-based Centre for Peace, Non- Violence and Human Rights, Kruno Sukic, praised the cooperation with Pakrac police chief Nikola Ivkanec, but said that municipal authorities "have demonstrated a complete lack of interest in cooperation." Sukic supported the efforts of the government office for peaceful reintegration of Eastern Slavonia, noting that non- governmental organizations were cooperating with this office. (hina) vm 051900 MET jul 96