POLITICS & ADMINISTRATION OBSTRUCT NON-MUSLIMS' RETURN TO SARAJEVO

( Editorial: --> 2241 ) SARAJEVO, June 18 (Hina) - The enforcement of the property and especially the housing act in the Croat-Muslim Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina is proceeding with major difficulties and is the main obstacle to the return of refugees and displaced persons, the federal ombudsman Branka Raguz said in Sarajevo Thursday. The US Ambassador to Bosnia Richard Kauzlarich yesterday expressed the US administration's concern at the slowness in the return of Croats and Serbs to Sarajevo. The same problem was also pointed out by the Peace Implementation Council at a recent meeting in Luxembourg. The key to the return to Sarajevo is a consistent implementation of property acts, especially the act confirming the right pre-war tenants have to return to houses abandoned during the war in Bosnia. "Our assessment is that the enforcement of this law is progressing with great difficulties" the federal ombudsman told Hina Thursday. Every day Raguz is met by droves of people complaining about problems related to the housing act. Municipal authorities in Sarajevo are rather arbitrary in interpreting the act's provisions, they request documents not envisaged by the act and even charge arbitrary administrative fees, Raguz told Hina. "The most important thing is that the 30-day deadlines for clearances are not complied with. We have not yet been able to see any such clearance", the ombudsman said. Raguz's office in Sarajevo has information that municipal bodies of authority are actually abusing some exceptions envisaged by the act which state that the right to return may be exercised by all but those who are proven to have left their flats for reasons not related to the war. Starting from that provision, municipalities are conducting actual investigations into where someone was during the war and how they left the Bosnian capital. "My assessment is that there is no political will", ombudsman Raguz said. She said that many complaints have been coming from canton number 10 whose seat is in Livno. Raguz believes the problem lies in the fact that in that canton, like in many others, local election results have been implemented only formally which is why local authorities are not functioning. (hina) ha jn 181922 MET jun 98