SARAJEVO/ZAGREB, Jan 10 (Hina) - The Archbishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, and Banja Luka Bishop Franjo Komarica have reiterated the need to start investing efforts into resolving the status of tens of thousands of Bosnian
Croat refugees and enabling them to safely return and remain in their pre-war places of residence. The appeal of the two church dignitaries was prompted by calls for help coming from displaced Croat Catholics, in particular during Christmas and New Year holidays, the Catholic Information Agency (IKA) reported. Puljic and Komarica call on politicians to 'finally take' more decisive measures aimed at settling the refugee status. Six years after the end of the war and the commitment that the wrong done to the victims would be rectified and their return enabled, barely 2,500 out of 200,000 Croat refugees from the Bosnian Serb entity have returned to their homes, t
SARAJEVO/ZAGREB, Jan 10 (Hina) - The Archbishop of Sarajevo,
Cardinal Vinko Puljic, and Banja Luka Bishop Franjo Komarica have
reiterated the need to start investing efforts into resolving the
status of tens of thousands of Bosnian Croat refugees and enabling
them to safely return and remain in their pre-war places of
residence.
The appeal of the two church dignitaries was prompted by calls for
help coming from displaced Croat Catholics, in particular during
Christmas and New Year holidays, the Catholic Information Agency
(IKA) reported.
Puljic and Komarica call on politicians to 'finally take' more
decisive measures aimed at settling the refugee status.
Six years after the end of the war and the commitment that the wrong
done to the victims would be rectified and their return enabled,
barely 2,500 out of 200,000 Croat refugees from the Bosnian Serb
entity have returned to their homes, the signatories to the appeal
warn.
Many Croat refugees feel betrayed and forgotten by their political
leadership and the leaders of other nations and international
representatives, they say.
A round table on the return of refugees to the northern Bosnian
Banja Luka and Posavina regions, held in Zagreb on September 6 last
year, stirred up hopes that this problem would be resolved, but
nothing significant has been done yet, the appeal reads.
The two dignitaries remind state officials that during last year's
meetings with church dignitaries they had strongly promised that
they would invest efforts to find the best solution for the severe
psychological and financial status of refugees, who are deprived of
all rights, as well as that they would demand a more efficient
cooperation of the international community.
At the end of their letter, Puljic and Komarica urge politicians to
adopt a single constructive approach toward the final positive
resolution of the status of Croat refugees, which will be discussed
at the next international conference on the return of refugees to
the Bosnian Serb and Croat-Muslim entities and Croatia, to be held
in Banja Luka.
The appeal has been sent to the international community's High
Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the apostolic nuncio's
offices in Sarajevo and Zagreb.
(hina) rml