CROATS AND BOSNIAKS REACH AGREEMENT ON RETURN TO MOSTAR

( Editorial: --> 7339 ) MOSTAR, April 16 (Hina) - The most important achievement of the Forum of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, held on Thursday in Mostar, is an agreement on return to Mostar, signed by Mayor Safet Orucevic and his deputy Ivan Prskalo. Return to Mostar is accepted unconditionally, reads the first and most important sentence of the agreement. In the first phase of return - which should start immediately - it is expected that Croats will return to 120 specified houses in Bijelo Polje (eastern Mostar), of which 80 are empty. The return of Bosniaks to 77 empty houses in Rastane, western Mostar, is also expected. In total, Croats should return to 266 houses in eastern Mostar and Bosniaks to 187 in the western part of town. Signatories to the agreement committed to helping in the return of clergy to three buildings of the Catholic church in eastern Mostar. The implementation of the agreement will also be supervised by international community representatives. "Now they are all responsible for the implementation of the agreement," said the US Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Richard Kauzlarich, at the press conference following the six-hour session of the Forum which was closed to the public. He informed that Croat and Bosniak leaders at the Forum pledged that they would together with representatives of the international community abolish remaining bodies of the former Croat Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Forum also discussed the organisation of cantons with separate systems, establishment of a federal police force, media and the restructuring of Federation municipalities. (hina) mm mrb/rm 162059 MET apr 98