NORTH BOSNIAN CROAT REFUGEES HOLD RALLY IN DJAKOVO

DJAKOVO, Jan 26 (Hina)- Over 300 Croat refugees from villages and towns in the Bosnian side of the Sava river valley on Wednesday held a rally in the eastern Croatian town of Djakovo. They gathered to point out problems concerning the return to their hometowns and villages and the reconstruction of their war-damaged houses. An organiser of the rally, Pavo Zuparic, stressed that an estimated 7,000 Bosnian Croat refugees from the right bank of the Sava river were still staying in this part of Croatia. On behalf of them, Zuparic voiced dissatisfaction with a too slow process of the return and the renovation of damaged homes. According to him, contracts were signed with the International Red Cross this year for the financing of the reconstruction of 39 homes in the villages of Grebnica and Novo Selo. Data are being gathering for plans, financed by the same organisation, on the renovation of another 41 houses. Zuparic added that only in the area of Bosanski Samac some 500 housing units should be reconstructed. Addressing the gathered, another participant in the event, the head of the Domaljevac-Samac municipality (Bosnia), pointed to too slow and weak return of Bosnian Croats in the Bosnian Serb entity. He added that there were no official figures about returnees while another assessments were often contradictory as a majority of returnees have come back to areas near the inter-entity boundary line, which has not yet been clearly demarcated. (hina) ms