BELGRADE, Aug 29, 2007 (AFP) - Serbia has agreed to return to Croatia a herd of underfed Lipizzaner show horses that were taken from the neighbouring country during its war in 1991, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

'With this agreement, we practically started the process of the return of the horses to Croatia,' Serbian Agriculture Minister Slobodan Milosavljevic was cited as saying in the daily Vecernje Novosti.

NOVI SAD, Serbia, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - Serbia's agriculture minister on Thursday pledged to work to settle a dispute with neighbouring Croatia over the fate of dozens of Lipizzaner horses following accusations they were mistreated.

Agriculture Minister Slobodan Milosavljevic visited a farm where 74 of the horses were being kept near the northern Serbian town of Novi Sad.

He said the horses were 'apparently in good health' after a veterinarian team examined them and said he would organise a meeting with Croatian officials over the issue.