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Balkan Nations to Cooperate on Identifying Missing Persons

by Associated Press

   THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS --

   Balkan nations that fought bitter wars as Yugoslavia broke apart during
   the 1990s have agreed to step up their cooperation in identifying
   thousands of people still missing as a result of the conflicts.

   Representatives from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Montenegro
   signed an agreement Tuesday laying out how they will work together.

   Some 12,000 of the 40,000 people who went missing as the former
   Yugoslavia violently collapsed remain unaccounted for, including about
   4,000 whose unidentified bodies still are stored in morgues across the
   region.

   The nations agreed to improve the sharing of information and to allow
   representatives from more than one country to take part in exhumations.

   The Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons will assist
   in DNA testing, manage the exchange of data and maintain a regional
   database.