ZAGREB, Oct 3 (Hina) - Representatives of Bosnian Croat refugees living in Croatia on Tuesday warned the speaker of the Croatian National Parliament about difficult living conditions and appealed on him to secure at least periodical
humanitarian assistance to families with no incomes.
ZAGREB, Oct 3 (Hina) - Representatives of Bosnian Croat refugees
living in Croatia on Tuesday warned the speaker of the Croatian
National Parliament about difficult living conditions and appealed
on him to secure at least periodical humanitarian assistance to
families with no incomes. #L#
Many of the 16,000 families of Bosnian refugees who are without
solved housing issues and any possibility of employment are
literally starving, representatives of the Association of Bosnian
Croat refugees told parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic.
They asked for fundamental sustenance to be provided to families
with no incomes at least every two or three months.
Association president Ivica Ivkic said there were more than 60,000
people who fled from Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Among them are
16,000 children under the age of 15.
The refugees have been accommodated in areas of special government
care -- areas devastated in the war in Croatia (1991-1995) -- mostly
in houses of Serbs who fled the country.
The Bosnian Croats do not contest the Serbs' right to property, but
appeal for their own housing issues to be solved in an adequate
manner. We are asking not to be dislocated to assembly camps, houses
without electricity or out-the-way settlements with no traffic
connections, Ivkic said.
Because of poverty most families will not be able to use their right
to construct themselves a home on allocated land with donatedf
construction materials, Ivkic said.
According to him, these people are also scared of a reaction from
Serb returnees, whose numbers have in many places, such as Vojnic,
Gvozd and Glina, exceeded the number of settled Croats.
In contrast to Croat families who receive no assistance, Serb
returnees receive regular humanitarian help, Ivkic asserted.
He asked that the status of some 200 soldiers of the (Bosnia-
Herzegovina's) Croatian Defence Council (HVO) he solved, primarily
concerning the rights of invalids and families of killed soldiers.
Expressing understanding for their problems, parliament speaker
Tomcic pledged to advocate the urgent solving of issues which could
be solved immediately, such as sending humanitarian assistance.
He also committed himself to have their problems discussed at high-
level positions, among the Government's most senior ministers,
among relevant ministries and with the prime minister.
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