OVER 60% OF BOSNIAN REFUGEES WANT TO RETURN TO PRE-WAR HOMES

SARAJEVO, Nov 23 (Hina) - More than 60 percent of persons who during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH) earlier this decade took refuge in neighbouring countries, or currently live in BH as displaced persons, want to return to their pre-war homes. This is the conclusion of a research jointly carried out and released in Sarajevo on Tuesday the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Commission for Real Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees. The research was carried out on 3,000 refugees and displaced persons from BH who live in BH, or in Croatia and Yugoslavia. It shows that 61 percent of respondents wants to return to pre-war homes regardless of the difficulties in the process. Among displaced persons from central BH, 76 percent of whom have taken temporary refuge in one of BH's entities, the Croat-Muslim Federation, want to return, whereas those currently on the territory of the other entity, the Bosnian Serb Republic, are considerably fewer, 34 percent. The UNHCR estimates that four years after the signing of the Dayton peace agreement, there are still 830,000 persons with displaced person-status living in BH, including 487,300 in the Federation, and 343,500 in the Bosnian Serb Republic. The research has shown that of crucial significance in urging people to return are security, job possibilities, and assistance in house reconstruction. Muslims and Croats have been the most eager to return, the number of Muslim displaced persons willing to return is 76 percent, that of Croats 73 percent. Bosnian Serbs who expressed the wish to return are 36 percent. Fifty-four percent of Bosnian refugees currently in Croatia, and 49 percent of those in Yugoslavia said they wanted to return to their pre-war homes. The UNHCR estimates that 324,100 Bosnian refugees currently in neighbouring countries have an as yet unresolved status. (hina) ha mm