UNTAES ISSUES STATEMENT ON EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS IN VUKOVAR

OSIJEK, Nov 4 (Hina) - The Vukovar-based UNTAES headquarters, sent a statement on Wednesday evening saying that an exhibition of about fifty children's paintings and drawings had been opened in the Serb cultural centre in Vukovar on Wednesday. The paintings were made by Croatian children from Osijek and Serb children from Vukovar and Beli Manastir, the statement said. The opening of the exhibition was attended by a deputy to the U.N. Transitional Administrator, Dereck Boothby, and the UNTAES troops commander General Jozef Schoups. The exhibition, just like the UNTAES weekly free market on the Osijek-Klisa road, was planned to be an occasion for making and promoting contacts among people in the area, the statement noted. It added that paintings would be later exhibited in Osijek and U.N. offices in Geneva and New York. At the end the statement said that at the time when the exhibition was opened, about 150 people protested in front of the centre's building and a small group of protesters prevented several Croatian journalists from Osijek, who came at an invitation of UNTAES, to enter the building. There was shoving and shouting before the journalists left the spot, it added. (hina) mm mš 042056 MET dec 96