Compared with the gargantuan task of restoring peace in nearby Bosnia, civilising Eastern Slavonia looks simple.
Russia and Belgium each have a battalion in Eastern Slavonia and Moscow has offered more troops.
In some places (eastern Slavonia, northern Iraq), they provide a cooling-off period before reintegration into another country.
ECONOMIST: From Bosnia, East Timor, and other fragile places
Negotiations over the future of Eastern Slavonia, seized by rebel Serbs in 1991, have not yet produced any agreement.
The Procession of Queens is performed by the young girls of the village of Gorjani in the Slavonia region of north-east Croatia every spring.
In eastern Slavonia, Cambodia and East Timor, where a single transitional administrator was responsible for both military and civilian affairs, co-ordination was much easier.
ECONOMIST: From Bosnia, East Timor, and other fragile places
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe is sending 250 monitors, 100 to Eastern Slavonia alone, to encourage Croatia to treat its minorities well.
Under criticism for the U.N. military's performance in the Balkans, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali wanted the Eastern Slavonia operation to be part of the Bosnian NATO mission.
Apparently, the chief U.N. representative for the Eastern Slavonia mission, Jacques Klein, told the council he thought an initial deployment of about 5, 000 troops would be sufficient.
But the Clinton administration insisted the United Nations do the job, ostensibly because of the trouble it had in getting troops approved by Congress for Bosnia without mentioning Eastern Slavonia at the same time.
Earlier on Sunday, Holbrooke met with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman to update him on Saturday's talks with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and to discuss the stability of Eastern Slavonia, a volatile region of Croatia bordering Serbia.
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