CROATIA IS WAITING FOR BOSNIA'S ANSWER TO OPEN CONSULATE IN B. LUKA

( Editorial: --> 1814 ) ZAGREB, Feb 13 (Hina) - Croatia wants to open a consulate in Banja Luka in order to strengthen cooperation with the Bosnian Serb entity and enable the return of Croatian Serbs, but the Muslim leadership in Sarajevo seems to consider the opening of the consulate as increasingly problematic. "Croatia is waiting for an answer by the Bosnian Presidency even after the second request for the opening of a consulate in Banja Luka", a source close to the Croatian Government told Hina Friday. Croatia recently requested the Bosnian Presidency's agreement to open a consulate in Banja Luka in early March, in line with an agreement between Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. The task of the consulate would be to strengthen cooperation between Croatia and the Bosnian Serb entity and to enable Croatian Serbs who took refuge in the Bosnian Serb entity to return to Croatia, if they wanted to. According to political sources in Sarajevo, the Muslim side in the Bosnian Presidency opposes the opening of the consulate. The problem might be that the consulate's competence would extend across the borders of that part of the Bosnian Serb entity. On Thursday Croatia forwarded a new request to the Bosnian Presidency in which it adjusts the authority of its consulate with the borders of the Bosnian Serb entity. "The Bosniak (Muslim) side is not comfortable with the opening of that consulate", the Sarajevo source said. The key reason for this, the source explained, is that a Croatian consulate in Banja Luka would demystify the thesis of the Bosnian Presidency's Muslim member, Alija Izetbegovic, who said that Croatian Serbs in Republika Srpska were the principal cause of the standstill in the refugees' return to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Izetbegovic has lately several times advocated that Croatian Serbs who had found refuge in the Bosnian Serb entity return to Croatia which, he believed, would enable the return of displaced Muslims and Bosnian Croats to Republika Srpska. The Muslim side estimates that between 50,000 and 70,000 Croatian Serbs took refuge in the Bosnian Serb entity. Croatia estimates the figure is considerably lower, between 15,000 and 20,000, and believes only 3,000 or 4,000 are willing to return to Croatia. According to the UN high commissioner for refugees, between 30,000 and 35,000 Croatian Serbs took refuge in the Bosnian Serb entity. Izetbegovic on several occasions claimed that Croatian Serbs in the Bosnian Serb entity were crucial for the refugee return process in Bosnia. "They are the most hard-core element and the most negative influence on the return of other refugees, and this is why the whole process should start with them", Izetbegovic's advisor for foreign affairs Mirza Hajric told Hina over the phone. Denying the Muslim side's opposition to the opening of a Croatian consulate in Banja Luka, Hajric said that Izetbegovic and the Bosnian Presidency's Croat member, Kresimir Zubak, had agreed to the opening of the consulate. Now we are waiting for the Presidency's Serb member Momcilo Krajisnik to agree, Hajric said, adding this could occur at the Presidency's Tuesday session. According to the Croatian source in Zagreb, Bosnian Serbs may have been a problem at the beginning, but not after reformer Milorad Dodik became premier of Republika Srpska. Croatia is now waiting for a positive reaction from the Muslim side, the source added. (hina) ha mm 131922 MET feb 98