SARAJEVO, Feb 20 (Hina) - The issue of the return of Serb refugees to Croatia will be a special topic of a meeting of the heads of the OSCE and UNHCR regional missions, to be held in Zagreb Friday, said Urdur Gunnarsdottir, the
spokeswoman for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Mission in Bosnia, in Sarajevo on Thursday.
SARAJEVO, Feb 20 (Hina) - The issue of the return of Serb refugees to
Croatia will be a special topic of a meeting of the heads of the OSCE
and UNHCR regional missions, to be held in Zagreb Friday, said Urdur
Gunnarsdottir, the spokeswoman for the Organisation for Security
and Cooperation in Europe's Mission in Bosnia, in Sarajevo on
Thursday. #L#
Confirming that along with the heads of the OSCE's Missions in
Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, also present at the meeting in
Zagreb will be U.S. diplomat Robert Beecroft, who is at the helm of
the OSCE's Mission in Bosnia, Gunnarsdottir said that the return of
Serbs to their pre-war homes was of an extreme importance for
Bosnia.
Bosnia is particularly effected by this problem, considering that
23,000 Serb refugees from Croatia are still in this country, some of
whom are illegally occupying other people's property, the OSCE
spokeswoman said.
She stressed that the existing Croatian laws prevent Serb refugees
from being able to properly request the restitution of their pre-
war property or compensation, which equally related to private and
socially owned property.
"This represents a serious obstacle to the implementation of
property laws in the entire region," Gunnarsdottir said.
At the Zagreb meeting, the heads of the OSCE and UNHCR mission
should mull a plan of activities, the implementation of which will
make it possible for members of all peoples to return to Croatia,
Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro.
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