UNHCR SAYS THERE ARE 46,000 REFUGEES IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, April 1 (Hina) - The U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has information that at least 6,000 Muslims from Sandzak, a region in Serbia bordering with eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina, have arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina over the past week, a UNHCR spokeswoman told reporters in Sarajevo on Thursday. According to Wendy Rappeport, since the beginning of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia, dozens of buses with refugees from Sandzak have been arriving in Sarajevo. The UNHCR has set up a reception point at the Sarajevo bus station and is accommodating the refugees in cooperation with the Ministry for Civil Affairs and Communications. About 200 Kosovo Albanians have sought refuge in Bosnia's Croat- Muslim Federation entity over the past ten days. The total number of refugees in the country is at the moment estimated at 46,000. Bosnia-Herzegovina had already accepted almost 30,000 Croatian Serbs and another 10,000 Kosovo Albanians, who arrived in the country at the beginning of 1999, and are treated as asylum seekers. The country still has no law on immigration and asylum and according to the existing regulations, refugees in BH cannot count on asylum but only on a status providing them with temporary protection. Faced with the first wave of Kosovo refugees, the Ministry for Civil Affairs adopted a regulation on temporary refugee status for Yugoslav citizens from Kosovo, but the regulation does not apply to refugees from Sandzak. Modification of this regulation is not possible for the time being due to the boycott of the work of the BH Council of Ministers by Bosnian Serb representatives. (hina) rml