LUXEMBOURG, April 8 (Hina) - Croatia is willing to accept its part of the burden in helping Kosovo refugees, Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader said in Luxembourg on Thursday. "Croatia is absolutely ready to cope with a part
of the huge refugee crisis, but within its possibilities, because it has been caring for more than 100,000 refugees from within the country and Bosnia-Herzegovina since the Homeland War and the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina", which is a fact European Union ministers will be warned about, Sanader said. Sanader arrived in Luxembourg to attend an extraordinary meeting of the EU Council of Ministers and foreign ministers from countries which are the neighbours of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The meeting is the continuation of dialogue between the European Union and Yugoslavia's neighbours, which started last week in Petersburg near Bonn, focusi
LUXEMBOURG, April 8 (Hina) - Croatia is willing to accept its part
of the burden in helping Kosovo refugees, Croatian Deputy Foreign
Minister Ivo Sanader said in Luxembourg on Thursday.
"Croatia is absolutely ready to cope with a part of the huge refugee
crisis, but within its possibilities, because it has been caring
for more than 100,000 refugees from within the country and Bosnia-
Herzegovina since the Homeland War and the war in Bosnia-
Herzegovina", which is a fact European Union ministers will be
warned about, Sanader said.
Sanader arrived in Luxembourg to attend an extraordinary meeting of
the EU Council of Ministers and foreign ministers from countries
which are the neighbours of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The meeting is the continuation of dialogue between the European
Union and Yugoslavia's neighbours, which started last week in
Petersburg near Bonn, focusing on joint steps to be made in
alleviating the Kosovo refugee disaster.
Sanader will also inform the meeting that Croatia has already
accepted 5,000-6,000 Kosovo refugees since the beginning of the
conflict, mainly on the principle of family reunion.
"Since they cannot return to Kosovo, they are given refugee status
and the Republic of Croatia will help them in any way it can",
Sanader said.
Croatia is already considerably participating in alleviating the
refugee crisis, he said, recalling that the Croatian Government had
last week approved aid to Macedonia and Albania in the amount of
US$2.4 million.
Sanader also said he could not be precise on the number of refugees
Croatia would be willing to accept, but it would not be more "than
several thousand refugees".
He dismissed claims in part of the Croatian press that Croatia was
intending to accept 50,000 Kosovo refugees and accommodate them in
a refugee camp near Dubrovnik, calling the claims "absolute
misinformation".
Croatian Defence Minister Pavao Miljavac said on Wednesday that
Croatia could receive between 3,000 and 4,000 refugees in the said
camp near Dubrovnik.
Apart from a Croatian delegation, the meeting with EU foreign
ministers should also be attended by ministers from Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Slovenia and
Hungary. Representatives of international financial institutions
will also be attending.
(hina) jn rml