REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON REFUGEE RETURN OPENS IN BANJA LUKA

( Editorial: --> 0083 ) BANJA LUKA, April 28 (Hina) - A one-day regional conference on refugee return started in Banja Luka on Tuesday. The conference was organised by the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The event has gathered representatives of the international community, government officials from Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia- Herzegovina and representatives of displaced people and refugees from the three countries, who are to agree on speeding up the process of return of all refugees. Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic is heading a government delegation, which includes Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic and his assistants Stjepan Sterc and Lovro Pejkovic. The president of the Serb People's Council (SNV) Milorad Pupovac and president of the Serb Democratic Independent Party (SDSS), Vojislav Stanimirovic, are also attending the conference. High Representative Carlos Westendorp and special UNHCR representative Nicholas Morris delivered introductory speeches. Both officials stressed that the right of all to return to their homes and the determination of the international community to remove obstacles to that process was of crucial importance. Significant progress has been made in the political stabilisation and economic revival of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the central part of the peace agreement - return and reconciliation - is now to be implemented, Westendorp said. There are obstacles to that process both on the regional and local levels, but we are here to remove them, he added. The right to return must not be prevented by parts of the leaderships of responsible states, he said, adding that projects confirming the results of ethnic cleansing and revision of the Dayton peace agreement should be unambiguously rejected. The Republika Srpska leadership has made progress while in the Croat-Muslim Federation there is opposition to the process, Westendorp said adding the international community would not tolerate this. He called participants in the recent incidents in Derventa and Drvar a group "with no future". The northern border of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia should be opened immediately for normal traffic, the High Representative said. The UNHCR representative Nicholas Morris said that about one million people should exercise their right to return. The return of one group of people must not be made conditional upon the return of another group, Morris said, adding that return must not be made conditional upon international financial help either. The largest number of people should return to the areas where they were once a minority, Morris said, adding that the year 1998 should be the year of minority return. Morris reiterated the main principles of return - return on a voluntary basis and a simple and clear administrative procedure. The conference was also welcomed by Republika Srpska Premier Milorad Dodik and the Bosnian Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic. Questions to be tackled at the meeting: expectations of the international community and refugee population; return as a priority problem in Bosnia-Herzegovina; and refugee return in Croatia and Yugoslavia. The conference will also be addressed by representatives of the UNHCR, European Union, World Bank, western governments, Croatian and Yugoslav government officials, officials of both Bosnian entities and joint bodies and representatives of numerous refugee associations and religious communities from all three countries. The conference is aimed at speeding up the return of refugees so that accepted political obligations could be reinforced, legal frameworks improved and administrative obstacles removed, said UNHCR spokeswomen in Banja Luka, Wendy Rappeport. A press conference is expected to take place after the conference. (hina) rm/mrb 281421 MET apr 98