UNHCR TO DEVELOP REGIONAL STRATEGY FOR RETURN OF REFUGEES

( Editorial: --> 5370 ) ZAGREB, April 7 (Hina) - Problems of refugees and displaced people and development of a regional approach for their resolution will be the UNHCR's main priorities from now on, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata said in Zagreb on Tuesday. The need for a regional approach to the problems of refugees stems not only from my mandate as High Commissioner but also from the fact that the problems of displaced persons are presently very closely interrelated, Ogata told a press conference. On Monday she visited Drnis, Knin and Korenica and on Wednesday she will visit the Danube River region. Problems of refugees and displaced persons cannot be resolved if they are tackled in one country alone, the UN official said. Hence she started her tour in Slovenia, then proceeded to Croatia and will also visit the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. She substantiated her view by quoting different kinds of displaced people (Croatian Serbs who fled to the FRY or the Bosnian Serb entity, Bosnian Croat refugees in Croatia, Croats who had been expelled from the Danube region, Croatian Serbs who fled to the Danube region from other Croatian areas and Croatian Serbs returning from the Danube region and the FRY to the area of Knin, etc). All in all, lives of 500,000 people are interlinked with Croatia, Ogata said. When one adds to them displaced people connected to other countries in the region of the former Yugoslavia, the complexity of the problem becomes even more evident. Those half a million people all need some kind of assistance, whether they want to return, to stay where they are or move to the third countries, she said. Ogata believes that a solution should be reached through consultations that would take into consideration humanitarian aspects of the problem, but without the present gap between commitments and their administrative implementation. According to the UN High Commissioner, administrative procedures should be simplified, housing problems resolved in an appropriate manner and during the reconstruction of homes, reconciliation between members of different communities should be one of the concerns. On Tuesday Ogata met Foreign Minister Mate Granic and President Franjo Tudjman, with whom she discussed the situation in the Danube region. As she said, the President supported her strategy of regional return. High Commissioner Ogata denied that she had said in Drnis that the UNHCR and other humanitarian organisations would soon withdraw from Knin, as had been reported by Hina. I did not say that and I do no have such plans, because there is still a lot to be done in Knin. Maybe one day, if everything goes back to normal, it would be nice to see the Croatian authorities take care of everything. Yet, for the time being I believe it is crucial that the UNHCR help refugees, Ogata said. She also denied that she had described the district of Korenica (in the Lika-Senj County) as an example of successful two-way return, because from there "nobody had returned to eastern Slavonia". Ogata also refuted claims that a large number of refugees who returned to that county without return certificates enjoyed all refugee rights. (Hina) mm mr /mb 072302 MET apr 98