OSCE Mission to Croatia mourns death of staff member

ZAGREB, 13 January 2004 - A member of the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Steve Degeneve, tragically died yesterday evening less than two hours after a car accident.

Degeneve, a 37-year old French citizen, was driving alone from his field station in Vukovar on his first day back at work after the Christmas holidays when his car hit a lamp post. He was brought to Vukovar Hospital for emergency treatment but died of his injuries.

Steve Degeneve had served with the OSCE for two years. He worked as a Human Dimension Officer and Head of a Regional Office in the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe for one year promoting the OSCE human rights and democratisation standards.

He joined the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Field Centre Vukovar, as a Return and Integration Officer in March 2003 and worked on national minority and education issues as well as on OSCE radio projects focusing on minorities in Eastern Slavonia.

The Mission will remember him as a dynamic, committed and knowledgeable colleague, fully dedicated to his work and always ready to help others.

"Steve Degeneve was very dedicated to his work as a member of the OSCE Mission", said the Head of the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Ambassador Peter Semneby. "The Field Centre in Vukovar and the Mission as a whole relied heavily on his knowledge and expertise. We are deeply saddened by his loss and will miss him greatly. We offer our deepest sympathy to his family."