ROUND-TABLE CONFERENCE ON REFUGEES ENDS IN MOSTAR

( Editorial: --> 2715 ) MOSTAR, May 9 (Hina) - A three-day round-table conference on refugees ended in Mostar on Saturday. Participants of the conference, representatives of non-government and refugee associations from the Croat-Moslem Federation and Serb republic in Bosnia-Herzegovina, mostly placed blame on authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina for obstructing the process of return of refugees and displaced persons to their pre-war homes. They warned that the return of refugees was not the only thing in question, because thousands of people, mostly young and educated, were leaving the country. Professor Franjo Kozul from Sarajevo warned that Bosnia- Herzegovina could be turned into an "intellectual wasteland", while president of the Helsinki Committee Srdjan Dizdarevic warned that Bosnia was facing the danger of the population disappearing if the immigration continued. Dizdarevic advocated a "political normalisation" of relations with Croatia and FR Yugoslavia, because this could "create a better atmosphere for the return of refugees". Representatives of non-government associations from Republika Srpska said that political changes in that entity wee significant, but were not on a high political level and could not be felt by the common people. Representatives of Serb refugees in FR Yugoslavia said the "death rate of refugees in FRY is ten times higher than the death rate of the domestic population". President of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Croat People's Council, Ivo Komsic, said refugees were the most difficult issue in Bosnia- Herzegovina. According to him, refugees cannot return to the places where they had been exiled from. (hina) lm 091940 MET may 98