CROATIAN GOVT WARNS OF NECESSITY FOR THREE-WAY RETURN

( Editorial: --> 5771 ) ZAGREB, April 9 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Thursday warned that the international community was being oblivious to the fact that the refugee problem was a consequence of the greater-Serbian aggression and that the process of return was a chain process which should involve other countries within the region. Conditions have not been created for the return of Croatian refugees to Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, while at the same time available funds are not sufficient for the desired tempo of reconstruction in Croatia, which is a basic prerequisite for return, Deputy Prime Ministers Ivica Kostovic and Jure Radic said at a Government session on Thursday. They said the Croatian Government had put forth every effort to implement the two-way return and would continue to do so. The two-way return includes the return of Croats expelled from their eastern Slavonia homes during the Serbian aggression and occupation, and the return of Serbs who had left their homes during the liberation of southern and central Croatia. These Serbs settled in the then UN-administered part of eastern Croatia or emigrated to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or Republika Srpska. Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa stressed that the resolution of the difficult problem of return of refugees would be facilitated by intorducing a third element - return to Bosnia-Herzegovina. This involves the return of Bosnian Croats who after expulsion from their homes in Bosnia-Herzegovina found shelter in Croatia. They are mostly living in the areas liberated in 1995, in the houses the Croatian Serbs abandoned. A clear plan for the return of Croats to Bosnia-Herzegovina is lacking, Matesa stressed. The Government adopted a Report on the implementation of the programme for the two-way return and care of refugees and tabled it for parliamentary procedure, with an addendum discussing the demands of the international community. According to Kostovic, the report contains exact data on the current refugee crisis, the biggest since World War II. He said that the return of Croatian Serbs was being conducted at a viable speed. Namely, a legal framework has been created for submitting applications for return and the issuance of documents. The Report also contains the measures, decisions and laws regulating other issues of interest to refugees and displaced persons. It also contains a body of data which indicate that so far, funds for the return and care of refugees and displaced persons have been provided by the Government without any significant assistance from the international community. Croatia has funded the accommodation and basic care of refugees and displaced persons with US& 1.6 billion, Kostovic said. If adequate financing was provided, reconstruction would progress at a higher rate, Radic said. He noted that the upcoming donors' conference was an opportunity for the international community now to offer concrete support to the return programme. Health Care Minister Andrija Hebrang objected to the use of the formulation "Serbian refugees." "There are no Serbian refugees - refugees are people who are seeking refuge from some evil. The Serbian population did not seek refuge from evil, they had been invited to stay in their homes," Hebrang said. He explained that the Serbs had left of their own free will, having bought into the political manipulations of the instigators of the Serbian aggression. "To speak of Serbian refugees would mean to put them in the same category as Croatian refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina, whom nobody had invited to stay," he said. He suggested that the formulation "Serbian emigrants" be used instead. The Government also adopted three decrees regulating the implementation of the Law Adjustment Act. The Government passed a draft bill on peacefull rallies and protests and a Family Bill. (hina) jn as 091456 MET apr 98