SARAJEVO, March 19 (Hina) - International organisations operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina have asked the country's authorities to continue implementing property laws throughout the country, including the western town of Drvar. Kevin
O'Sullivan, spokesman for the Office of the High Representative (OHR), told reporters in Sarajevo on Tuesday all key international organisations in the country fully agreed that the implementation of property laws must be unconditional. The process cannot depend on the provision of alternative accommodation, O'Sullivan said. Commenting on the current situation in Drvar where Croat refugees were evicted from other people's flats, the OHR spokesman said flats and houses had to be returned to their pre-war owners and alternative accommodation would be provided to those who were entitled to it by the law. According to the estimates of the OHR and the OSCE Mission in Bosnia, the main probl
SARAJEVO, March 19 (Hina) - International organisations operating
in Bosnia-Herzegovina have asked the country's authorities to
continue implementing property laws throughout the country,
including the western town of Drvar.
Kevin O'Sullivan, spokesman for the Office of the High
Representative (OHR), told reporters in Sarajevo on Tuesday all key
international organisations in the country fully agreed that the
implementation of property laws must be unconditional. The process
cannot depend on the provision of alternative accommodation,
O'Sullivan said.
Commenting on the current situation in Drvar where Croat refugees
were evicted from other people's flats, the OHR spokesman said
flats and houses had to be returned to their pre-war owners and
alternative accommodation would be provided to those who were
entitled to it by the law.
According to the estimates of the OHR and the OSCE Mission in
Bosnia, the main problem is that 95 percent of 2,500 Croat refugees
in Drvar are registered as double occupancies. This means that they
live in other people's flats although they have repossessed their
pre-war property.
According to available data, a large part of those who decided to
leave Drvar for Croatia have been offered alternative
accommodation in Bosnia. There are also reports that some Croats
settled in Drvar have refused financial assistance for the
reconstruction of their pre-war homes, for example in the central
Bosnian town of Vares.
Alternative accommodation was offered to all those who are entitled
to it, however, there are less than 100 such cases among Croats in
Drvar, O'Sullivan said.
Since the beginning of this year, 147 families have returned to
Drvar and repossessed their property. Another 1,799 families are
waiting for their repossession claims to be processed while the
local authorities solve 25 repossession claims per week.
OSCE Mission spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir dismissed as untrue
claims in the Croatian media that Drvar Croats are being given only
24 hours to move out. The laws that are applied in Drvar apply to the
entire country and envisage a 15-day deadline for a person to leave
other people's property, she said.
One of the reasons Croats do not want to leave Drvar and return to
towns such as Vares, Gunnarsdottir believes, is that in relation to
national standards they have rather well-paid jobs in Drvar. It is
claimed that the members of eight of 14 families which recently
arrived in Knin have kept their jobs in Drvar.
The OHR and OSCE believe media reports about the situation in Drvar
and the Croats' status are exaggerated and often based on false
information.
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