ARTICLE 11 COMMISSION VISITS KARLOVAC & SISAK COUNTIES

( Editorial: --> 8764 ) KARLOVAC, April 22 (Hina) - Representatives of the Article 11 Commission, which is monitoring the implementation of the Erdut Agreement, and representatives of the European Union and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Wednesday said that the return of Bosnian Croat refugees to Bosnia- Herzegovina and Serbs to the Karlovac and Sisak-Moslavina counties is crucial for the process of refugee return to Bosnia and Croatia. The international representatives said this at a press conference in Karlovac, held after their one-day visit to the Karlovac and Sisak-Moslavina counties. During the visit, the Article 11 Commission representatives and other international representatives talked with residents, local authorities, government representatives and Catholic dignitaries from Bosnia-Herzegovina. US Ambassador William Montgomery said the international community expected trust establishment committees to be formed throughout Croatia, especially in the Karlovac County. Administrative obstacles in issuing documents and returnee cards should be removed, he added. There are few incidents, but when they happen, the Government has to publicly condemn them and prosecute perpetrators, Montgomery said. The international community is worried about reports saying individuals in Croatia are preventing the return of Bosnian Croats to their homes and that there is a lack of political will to enable their return, the US Ambassador said. Asked to clarify who those individuals were, Montgomery said Bosnian Croat refugees had informed him today that their return was being prevented with various pressures by individuals from the Bosnian Croat community, as well as by other individuals from Croatia. The international representatives welcomed the regional conference on the return of refugees, to be held in Banja Luka on April 28. Montgomery and the British Ambassador Colin Munro, who spoke on behalf of the EU, said they expected the conference to define and remove obstacles to the return of refugees to Republika Srpska. Montgomery said Premier Milorad Dodik and the Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic had given assurances that the Bosnian Serb entity was currently, generally speaking, more open for return. Speaking about the problem of displaced people and refugees in Croatia, the head of the OSCE Mission in Croatia Tim Guldimann said the Croatian Government had stated that it would not allocate abandoned property to other people for use. We welcome this statement and we shall closely watch how it is implemented, he added. Speaking about yesterday's mine explosion in Saborsko, which killed three persons, Guldimann said this bore witness to the problem of mines and the need for further international assistance in the removal of mines. Ambassador Montgomery refuted a statement by reporters that the international community was giving humanitarian aid only to Serbs in Croatia. The statement is false. We give aid equally to all people, and Serbs in Karlovac and Sisak have received the least help, he said. Montgomery also said that Croatia had achieved quite considerable progress in the return of refugees and taken additional efforts to solve this complex problem. A lot is yet to be done, he added. A special statement will be issued following today's visit to the two counties, the US Ambassador said. The Article 11 Commission was founded in line with Article 11 of the Erdut Agreement and it includes ambassadors of western countries accredited to Croatia, who supervise its implementation. The Karlovac and Sisak counties were today also visited by an EU representative in Croatia, Per Vinther, the head of the UN Civil Police Support Group and UN Secretary-General's envoy in Croatia, Souren Seraydarian, a representative of the Sarajevo Office of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina as well Croatian Government representatives, who were led by Assistant Reconstruction and Development Minister Stjepan Sterc and the head of the Office for Displaced People and Refugees, Lovre Pejkovic. (hina) rm/mrb 222128 MET apr 98