STATEMENT BY CROATIAN DELEGATION AT VATICAN CONFERENCE

RIVA DEL GARDA, Nov 8 (Hina) - The World Conference of Religions for Peace began its session in the Vatican on November 3. The Archbishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, was elected honorary president. Conference participants from Croatia, Catholics, Orthodox Serbs, Moslems and Jews, issued a statement at a Vatican press conference on November 7 calling on all Conference participants to support the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a UN member state. The text of the statement was carried by Croatia's Catholic news agency IKA. The statement urged the UN Security Council to immediately stop the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and help bring about a just peace. It called on international political and religious communities to support the consistent implementation of a UN Security Council resolution passed in autumn 1994 regarding the peaceful reintegration of occupied Croatian territories. The statement added that this would make it possible for thousands of refugees and displaced people to return and start repairing their destroyed homes and factories. It also said that a magazine promoting the culture of peace and non-violence, "Peace Challenge", was published in Zagreb. The magazine brings together authors from Catholic, Serb Orthodox, Evangelical, Baptist, Moslem, Hindu and Jewish religious communities, which is a unique example of interconfessional cooperation in the Balkans and Central Europe, the statement said. (hina) mm vm 081935 MET nov 94