CROATIA EXPECTED TO STEP UP RESTITUTION OF REFUGEE PROPERTY

SARAJEVO, Feb 13 (Hina) - The international community's high representative in Bosnia and the head of the UN Mission there called on Croatian authorities on Wednesday to step up the restitution of refugee property. High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch and UN's Werner Blatter said in Sarajevo the degree of implementation of Bosnian property laws in 2001 had risen considerably in comparison to previous years. More than 102,000 property-related requests were processed last year, including almost 65,000 in the Croat-Muslim federation and over 35,000 in the Serb entity. Entity and municipal authorities are showing a much higher degree of willingness to respect the rights of displaced persons and refugees to get their pre-war property back, international officials in Bosnia maintain. Unfortunately, another 150,000 such requests are waiting for processing, which might take a few years if the current pace of implementation is kept. Petritsch said the Bosnian Serb authorities in particular must double their efforts to ensure property restitution as the measures taken up to now were all but satisfactory. He announced further talks with the Croatian government, which is expected to step up the return of property to refugees staying in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (hina) ha sb