BANJA LUKA BISHOP SENDS MINISTER PICULA MEMO ON REFUGEE RETURN

BANJA LUKA, July 26 (Hina) - Banja Luka bishop Franjo Komarica in mid July sent Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula a memo on refugee return, property repossession and other problems in the Banja Luka area. The bishop recalled that four months had passed since Picula and the premier of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, had signed an agreement on the return of 2,000 Croat refugees to the Bosnian Serb entity and as many Serb refugees to Croatia within three months. The latest issue of the Catholic weekly 'Glas Koncila' warns about the memo, which the Banja Luka bishop sent Hina today at its request. #L# In a letter enclosed with the memo, which was sent to Picula on July 17, Komarica said he was not familiar with data regarding the return of Serb refugees to Croatia, but according to reports by the UNHCR and other international representatives, their return was rapidly progressing. "This cannot be said for the return of Croats from Republika Srpska, who have wished to return for a long time," Komarica said, asking Picula to provide assistance which he promised during a visit to Banja Luka in March this year. According to the memo, between 1991 and 1995, about 70,000 Catholics - Croats, the Czech, Italians, Poles and Ukrainians - were expelled from the Banja Luka region. So far, 509 families, or 1,024 mostly elderly Catholics, have returned. Most of them cannot repossess their houses and flats which are damaged or occupied, but live with their relatives or friends. The returnees have no right to assistance from the Bosnian Serb authorities and live mostly of Caritas help or are helped by their relatives living abroad, Komarica said. As regards property repossession, since 1997 the Caritas office for legal assistance has been accepting requests for the repossession of property by Croat, Muslim and other families and it has been processing and forwarding those requests to the international commission for property repossession (CRPC) and the Republika Srpska Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons. According to Komarica, the office has sent the CRPC 2,863 requests, of which only 350 have been solved. Since 1999, 2,722 requests have been sent to the Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons and only 152 have been solved. Seventy-six pre-war owners have repossessed their houses and flats. "The houses and flats of many Croats and Muslims and members of other minorities have been occupied by ministers, members of the army, police, company managers, and municipal or entity officials," Komarica said in the letter. About 150 Catholic families stayed in Banja Luka throughout the war but were expelled from their houses and flats and still cannot repossess them, Komarica reminds. Some Serb families are occupying several houses and flats, the memo read. None of the help which the BH Serb entity has been receiving from the international community was used for the repair of houses for returnees, the memo read. According to the document, church property is still occupied, including the church in Dragalovci, parish offices in Banja Luka, Budzak, Barlovci, Dragalovci, Mrkonjic Grad and Vrbanjac, and convents in Banja Luka, Aleksandrovac and Nova Topola. "Republika Srpska has still not given an answer as to the fate of abducted priests Ratko Grgic from Nova Topola and Tomislav Matanovic and his parents from Prijedor," Komarica said. None of those who returned has a job and most pensioners have not received pensions for several months upon return. As regards the school curriculum, it is intended exclusively for Serb children and does not take into account the identity of other nationalities. The right to health care is only declarative, the memo read. (hina) mm rml