(24/2/1998) 90 SERBS FLEEING EASTERN SLAVONIA OSIJEK, CROATIA. An OSCE monitoring mission in Eastern Slavonia announced on Thursday that hundreds of Serbs from Eastern Slavonia were seeking asylum in Western European countries. OSCE spokesman Mark Thompson expressed concern over the development of the 95 situation in the region. He warned Croatia that its ambitions for integration with Europe would be jeopardised if it were seen as a country which produced refugees. (B92 - Open Serbia, news by 14:00 CET, February 20, 1998) --- SERBS ARE LOSING JOBS AND GETTING SEVERANCE PAY IN DINARS Tanjug, 1998-02-21 Since the reintegration of the region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and West Srem into Croatia, 343 citizens of Serb nationality have been fired from jobs they held in the local administration while the region was administered by the United Nations. Those who were given notices in the Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srem counties in early January were given an "agreement" to sign, pledging that they would not seek a job in Croatian state bodies for the next five years, and were "generously" offered 9,000 Yugoslav dinars as "compensation." Thus, Serbs who had believed the promises of the Croatian side and even more so trusted the international community, which had been represented by Generals Jacques Klein and William Walker, are now compelled to leave the region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and West Srem. By signing the "agreement," which gave them the "choice" of "take it or leave it," Serbs were made to renounce their right to seek jobs in the state administration, although they possess all valid documents as Croatian citizens. Finding themselves before an accomplished fact and without any prior notification, 250 of the 343 employees of Serb nationality took the "severance pay" in dinars. Pressed by a scandal which followed, Croatian Deputy Minister of the Administration Mirko Tankosic, whose signature was on the "agreement," drew up a "more humane version" of the document. Under the revised "agreement," Serbs are offered "severance pay" of 6,000 kunas (Croatian currency) for agreeing not to seek employment in state institutions for the next six months and not five years. Croatian Deputy Minister Tankosic has said that the move is a result of the Croatian Government's "good will, since such severance pay is not provided for under any law and is not binding for the Republic of Croatia." Tankosic said that notices had allegedly been given to employees with inadequate qualifications. Croatia has once again shown that it is not ready to contribute to the building of inter-ethnic confidence in the region. The announcement made by its authorities that 30,000 more jobs would be closed in the next four months means that as many Serbs will be left jobless and they and their families without a livelihood. This means that Croatia will make the remaining 50,000 Serbs or so to leave the region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and West Srem and itself definitively become the ethnically purest state in Europe. The International Commission which monitors the implementation of the Erdut Agreement between Croatian authorities and the local Serb population in the region has so far only sharply censured Croatia for failing to carry out and violating the Agreement's provisions. The Commission is made up of representatives of 11 Western countries, the UNHCR, the European Union and the OSCE and is headed by U.S. Ambassador to Croatia William Montgomery. --- NATO WARNS ON EASTERN SLAVONIA BRUSSELS, BELGIUM. NATO and OSCE have warned that the peace process in Eastern Slavonia is losing impetus, and that economic discrimination was actively forcing Serbs out of the region. OSCE 90 special envoy for Eastern Slavonia, Tim Gouldiman, said in Brussels on Monday that a small number of Croatian refugees were returning to the region, but virtually no Serbs had been repatriated. UN police representative Doug Kopfman also demanded that the 95 Croatian Government take urgent measures to prevent violence in Eastern Slavonia. He described an incident on Sunday in which about 100 Croats had burned Serb insignia in front of the Orthodox church in the village of Petrovo. Kopfman said that the demonstration had been accompanied by fascist-style salutes. He 100 added that such incidents could imperil the program of national reconciliation by increasing ethnic tensions in the region. (b92 - Open Serbia, news by 14:00 CET, February 24, 1998)