SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, Jan 30 (Hina) - More than five years after the signing of the Dayton Agreement which sealed the end to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, at least 1,115,000 citizens of this country are still living with the status of
displaced person or refugee, chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Martin Raguz, said Tuesday. Addressing a round-table conference on sustainable return held in Banja Luka under the organisation of the Refugees and Human Rights Ministry, Raguz said according to indicators at hand at least 625,000 people from Bosnia-Herzegovina are today living with the refugee status in 42 countries around the world. At the same time, more than half a million people are living as displaced people within the country borders. The round-table in Banja Luka gathered the most prominent officials in Bosnia-Herzegovina and representatives of government authorities of Croatia and Yugoslavia
SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, Jan 30 (Hina) - More than five years after the
signing of the Dayton Agreement which sealed the end to the war in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, at least 1,115,000 citizens of this country
are still living with the status of displaced person or refugee,
chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Martin
Raguz, said Tuesday.
Addressing a round-table conference on sustainable return held in
Banja Luka under the organisation of the Refugees and Human Rights
Ministry, Raguz said according to indicators at hand at least
625,000 people from Bosnia-Herzegovina are today living with the
refugee status in 42 countries around the world.
At the same time, more than half a million people are living as
displaced people within the country borders.
The round-table in Banja Luka gathered the most prominent officials
in Bosnia-Herzegovina and representatives of government
authorities of Croatia and Yugoslavia.
Croatian Parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic said the return of
refugees to Croatia was no longer a political, but purely a
financial issue as completely solving the problem requests
significant material resources.
Croatia is a country open for the return of all its citizens, Tomcic
said, recalling more than 100,000 refugees have returned to their
homes in Croatia.
According to data by authorities in Sarajevo, there are still about
20,000 refugees who fled Croatia in 1991 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as
well as 17,000, out of the total of 75,000 refugees from Yugoslavia
who fled during 1999 NATO bombings.
Speaking of results achieved despite many problems, Raguz said
about 750,000 refugees have returned to their homes, stressing
almost 80 per cent returned to the region of the Bosnian Federation
while results for Republika Srpska were much weaker.
Republika Srpska Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic said his government
would support the return of refugees, and then spoke about the
problems of returnees to Croatia -- the status of flats formerly
used by Serb refugees and the arrests of returnees accused of war
crimes.
According to data provided by UNHCR Mission chief for Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Werner Blatter, about 59,000 so-called minority
return were registered in the entire country in 2000. He expressed
particular dissatisfaction with the security situation in
Republika Srpska, as numerous incidents obstructed a more massive
return.
Authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina with the cooperation of the
Office of the High Representative and UNHCR this year harmonised a
list of about 16,000 housing facilities whose reconstruction is a
priority.
Resources for this project are expected to be secured by the
European Union and the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe.
Martin Raguz suggested the forming of another fund for assistance
to refugees.
(hina) lml sb