With the successfully completed peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Podunavlja, whose 25th anniversary is celebrated today, January 15, the occupied parts of Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem counties were peacefully returned to the constitutional and legal order of the Republic of Croatia The end of the peace process, after the two-year transitional administration of the United Nations, enabled the reconstruction of those areas destroyed in the Homeland War, the return of exiles and refugees, and the reintegration of the economy and public services into the legal system of the Republic of Croatia
The Erdut agreement initiated the process of peaceful reintegration After several meetings with representatives of local Serbs from Podunavlje, the start of reintegration was made possible by the signing of the Basic (Erdut) Agreement on Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem on November 12, 1995 in Erdut and Zagreb The document was signed by the then head of the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia Hrvoje Šarinić and the leader of the Serbian negotiating delegation Milan Milanović, and as witnesses the then American ambassador to the Republic of Croatia Peter Galbraith and the UN mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg
The agreement provided for a transitional period of one year, which can be extended for a maximum of one more year, the establishment of a transitional UN administration and the deployment of international forces to maintain peace and security, as well as the establishment of temporary police forces The agreement stipulated that the transitional administration would facilitate the return of exiles and refugees and would organize elections for local authorities in the Danube region
Transitional Administrator retired US General jacques paul klein By the Resolution of the UN Security Council of January 15, 1996 UN Transitional Authority in Eastern Slavonia - UNTAES (UN Transitional Authority in Eastern Slavonia) was established, and retired American general jacques paul klein was appointed as the transitional administrator
As a body for the implementation of peaceful reintegration, the Government of the Republic of Croatia established in Osijek the Office of the Provisional Administration for the Establishment of Croatian Government in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem, and Ivica Vrkić was appointed as its head The beginning of the return of exiles was made possible by the deployment and withdrawal of all serbian paramilitary units in June 1996, after which UNTAES took over control of all military facilities in the area
From July 1, the transitional police began to operate, which in mid-December of the following year was included in the composition of the MUP of the Republic of Croatia Exhumation from the mass grave at Ovčara During September and October 1996
an exhumation was carried out from the mass grave at Ovčara, near Vukovar, in which the remains of 200 victims, Croatian veterans and civilians who were taken from the Vukovar hospital and killed after the occupation of the city, were found That year, for the holiday of All Saints, several thousand Croatian exiles were able to visit the cemeteries in the area of the Croatian Danube under the supervision of UNTAES for the first time after the exile in 1991
With the return of the oil fields in Đeletovci to the INA system at the beginning of 1997, the reintegration of public companies and the economy in the Croatian Danube began One of the key moments for the re-establishment of legal Croatian government in the Danube region was the holding of local elections for municipal and city councils and assemblies of Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem counties on April 13, 1997
In May 1997 kuna means of payment The reintegration of the Croatian Danube into the payment system of the Republic of Croatia was carried out on May 19, 1997 by the decision of interim administrator Jacques Klein to introduce the Croatian kuna as an official means of payment in that area
In order to implement the two-way return, six branches of the Office for Exiles and Refugees of the Government of the Republic of Croatia were opened, and on July 9, 1997, in Ilok, the head of that office, Lovre Pejković, handed over return cards to the then mayor of Ilok, Stipan Kraljević, and members of the City Administration, which officially started the process return of exiles to the Croatian Danube region On August 1, 1997, jacques paul klein was replaced by William Walker as interim administrator, by decision of the UN Secretary General
In order to enable return and reconciliation in that area, in October 1997 In 1995, the National Committee for the Establishment of Confidence in the War-torn Areas of Croatia was established, with Vesna Škare-Ožbolt, then Deputy Head of the Office of the President, appointed as its president The Peace Train in Vukovar Croatian President Franjo Tuđman visited the Croatian Danube Region several times during the peaceful reintegration, the first time on December 3, 1996, and then on June 8, 1997, when he arrived in Vukovar on the "Peace Train"
At that time, he pointed out that the arrival by train in Vukovar "is not only the beginning of the final return of the exiles, but also proof of the utmost concern of the Croatian authorities and all Croatian public institutions to rebuild this devastated area as soon as possible and to include it in the social, economic and cultural life of the Croatian homeland as soon as possible " "
On June 2, 1997, President Tuđman also visited Beli Manastir, and the Osijek-Baranja County Assembly declared that date the day of that county During 1997, agreements were reached on the reintegration of the postal, telecommunications, educational and health systems in the Croatian Danube region into the legal system of the Republic of Croatia
Tuđman: By arriving at their border on the Danube, the Croatian people confirmed their glorious victory in the war imposed on them The UN Security Council supported the end of the mandate of the UNTAES mission within the stipulated time, and on January 15, 1998, the end of the UN Security Council resolution the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Podunavlje region was marked at ceremonies in the cinema hall in Borovo naselje and the day after in Zagreb
At the ceremony in Borovo naselje, the special envoy of the UN Secretary General, Bernard Miyet, assessed that the UNTAES mission had successfully achieved its planned goals, and the interim administrator, William Walker, said that, despite some initial predictions about the failure of peaceful reintegration, peace reigned in the area, and the majority of the population accepted Croatian rule At the meeting in Zagreb, President Tuđman said that "with the handover of the Croatian Danube to the official representatives of the Croatian government, the aggression against Croatia and the occupation of the last part of its territory have finally ended, and by reaching its border on the Danube, the Croatian people have confirmed their magnificent victory in the war imposed on them"
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