400 DISPLACED PEOPLE DID NOT MAKE IT TO MASS IN PLEHAN

( Editorial: --> 9519 ) SARAJEVO/PLEHAN, April 25 (Hina) - Mass was served Saturday in Plehan, near Derventa (north Bosnia-Herzegovina), by Assistant Sarajevo Archbishop, Msgr Pero Sudar. Only several people attended, including the deputy international high representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hans Schumacher, the Sarajevo Catholic Press Agency said. The mass was being secured by 400 local Serb police officers. Around 400 persons displaced from Plehan and Derventa (north Bosnia, under Serb control) left Slavonski Brod (Croatia) at 07.00 hours Saturday to attend the mass. The busses were stopped at the border between Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina. One bus with Zagreb registration plates was turned back, while six others and one vehicle continued their journey. After being informed by the members of the International Police Task Force (IPTF) that Bosnian Serbs had blocked the road some 15 kilometres further down the road they were supposed to take, the busses took the longer way through Serb-controlled Lijesce. As the busses were passing through the village, two of them were stoned, but with no great consequences. The busses passed through the Bosnian Federation area without any problems. The convoy was then stopped again by the IPTF near Jakes in Republika Srpska, explaining that Serb civilians had again blocked the road 15 kilometres down the road. After one-hour negotiations led by Father Ivan Maric, presidential advisor Slobodan Lang and a Red Cross representative, Josip Jelic, the convoy decided, for security reasons, not to pass through Serb- held villages, but to return to back Slavonski Brod. (hina) lm 252004 MET apr 98