Croatia celebrates return of Eastern Slavonia

Croatians have been celebrating the return to Zagreb of Eastern Slavonia -- the last of the territories seized by the Serbs during the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

President Tudjman attended an opera which was then followed by a large firework display.

A BBC correspondent says the atmosphere was strongly nationalistic, but he adds that Croatia has come under pressure from the international community not to be too triumphant.

Local Serbs are said to be apprehensive about how they might be treated by their former enemies.

And for the time being, several hundred international observers and UN civilian police will stay behind in the region.

The transfer of power was earlier marked at a ceremony near Vukovar, which saw bitter fighting at the beginning of the war in 1991.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service