CROATIAN GOVT, DISPLACED PEOPLE DISCUSS PEACEFUL REINTEGRATION

OSIJEK, Sept 20 (Hina) - Elections in the UN-administered area of eastern Croatia should be held by December 15 and the UNTAES mandate should not be extended after January 15 next year, representatives of the Croatian government and the Assocation of Displaced Persons said at a meeting in Osijek on Friday. Participants in the discussion on the completion of the peaceful reintegration process stressed the importance of displaced people voting in pre-war places of residence in line with Croatian laws, Association president Mato Simic told a news conference. Participants demanded from the UN Transitional Administration (UNTAES) to prevent war criminals from participating in the peaceful reintegration process, to make it possible for Croatian displaced people to visit cemeteries in the area on All Saints' Day, and to enable the Croatian police to assume control of the international border. "At yesterday's meeting with (UN Transitional Administrator) General Klein we demanded that control be stepped up along the entire Croatian border because of the increasing looting of Croatian property in the UNTAES area and we received assurances that this would be done soon," said Ivica Vrkic, head of the government office for restoration of Croatian authority in the area. Noting that the UNTAES manadate should be terminated on January 15 next year because it had failed to return displaced people to the area, Vrkic said that after that date it was necessary to establish Croatian government institutions "so that they could assume full responsibility for the return of all people to their homes." Participants expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of the exhumation of bodies from the Ovcara mass grave and demanded that UNTAES protect other sites in the area where crimes had been committed. The meeting also involved Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Kostovic, the President's Deputy Chief of Staff Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, Interior Minister Ivan Jarnjak, Administration Minister Davorin Mlakar and Social Welfare Minister Joso Skara. (hina) vm jn 202156 MET sep 96