OGATA: POSITIVE CHANGES IN RETURN OF REFUGEES TO REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

GRADACAC, March 21 (Hina) - The return of some 13,000 refugees to the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska in the past year is a sign of positive changes in the resolution of the refugee problem in Republika Srpska, United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata said in the northern Bosnian town of Gradacac on Tuesday. Following a tour of the village Turici in Pelagicevo municipality in Republika Srpska, where Croat refugees have started returning to their houses, reconstructed with UNHCR funds, Ogata told reporters in Gradacac the 13,000 returns to Republika Srpska since the beginning of 1999 heralded positive changes in the entity. Ogata said the returns had been financed from different sources. She said that she was not acquainted with the agreement signed by the premiers of Bosnia's two entities, Edhem Bicakcic and Milorad Dodik, on the return of 400,000 refugees to their homes within Bosnia-Herzegovina, but she believed it was a huge project and difficult to handle. Spontaneous returns are constant and they receive help from all sides, she added. Ogata said the UNHCR would continue facilitating returns which would proceed in reasonable numbers, as it had been doing so far. (hina) rml