Bucharest / Romania (RNC Agency) 24.02.1997

Ion Cioaba, the unofficial "King of the Roma," has died of a heart attack. He was 62. Cioaba died late Sunday or early today in a hospital in Bucharest, weher he had been scheduled to meet President Emil Constantinescu to discuss issuse related to the welfare of Roma. " Cioaba is a Legend," said Ioan Stanescu, a relative of Cioaba and also a Roma leader. "With him died a part of each Rom". No successor was immediately named. Cioaba was born in the Transylvania city of Sibiu, a descendant of one o f the two main Roma clans. Cioaba crowned himself king in 1992 and was generally accepted as the leader except by one rival clan. He worked for Roma intergration in Romania's post-Communist society, often fighting ingrained prejudices. Two weeks ago, he o pened a literacy and job training center and a church he funded in Sibiu in attempt to improve the image of his community. Many Roma are unemployed and illiterate. According to the 1992 census, there are fewer than a half-million Roma in Romania, but thei r numbers are believed to be many higher. Some Roma do not have birth certificates, others have no fixed residence, and many do not admit to belonging to their ethnic group, which is belived to have come to Europe from India more than 600 years ago. Cioa ba died in the Floreasca Emergency Hospital.