TRUST ESTABLISHMENT COMMITTEE REPS DISCUSS RETURN PROBLEMS IN KARLOVACKA COUNTY

KARLOVACKA COUNTY ( Editorial: --> 8192 ) KARLOVAC/VOJNIC, Apr 20 (Hina) - Deputy head of the National Trust Establishment Committee Ivica Vrkic Monday visited Karlovac and Vojnic, towns in Karlovacka County, south-west of Zagreb. Vrkic announced a branch office of the Agency for Real Estate Transactions would soon be opened in the area to facilitate the return of displaced Croats and Serb returnees, as well as the living and work of more than 5,000 displaced and refugee Croats from Bosnia-Herzegovina who are situated in Karlovacka County. Vrkic held talks with Prefect Vlado Jelkovac which, he told reporters, focused on the obligations of the National Trust Establishment Committee, the return process, the necessity that the whole Croatia take part in the return process, that it be organised with lower political tensions and that it be not only two- way, but a three-way return. More than 4,600 Serbs have returned to Karlovacka County to date, of which 2,656 from eastern Croatia and 1,973 from Serbia, Prefect Jelkovac told reporters. He warned that Serbs were not returning in an organised way and continued to pressure Bosnian Croat refugees to leave the houses which they are accommodated in. National Trust Establishment Committee head Vesna Skare-Ozbolt took part in talks on the matter held in the town of Vojnic with representatives of Croat refugees from the Bosnian town of Banja Luka and from central Bosnia. There are about 1,800 Bosnian Croat refugees and 1,300 Serb returnees in the municipality of Vojnic at present. It was pointed out during talks that a major difficulty in the area is the fact that Serbs pressure Bosnian Croats to leave their houses and property. Economic conditions were also a problem, but the Agency for Facilitating Real Estate Transactions is believed to help in the matter. (hina) ha 202013 MET apr 98