KARLOVAC: 5400 SERBS RETURN HOME

( Editorial: --> 8737 ) KARLOVAC, July 20 (Hina) - According to the Karlovac County administration, 5400 Serb returnees have returned to this central Croatian county. Most of them returned to the town of Karlovac and surrounding villages, and to Vojnic and Plaski. The majority of the returnees (around 3000) are from the eastern Danube River region, followed by 2400 returnees from Bosnia- Herzegovina and Serbia who fled during the military operations "Flash" and "Storm" in 1995. The Karlovac County administration stated that 221 people returned on an organised basis. The unorganised return of Serbs creates specific difficulties in the Plaski and Vojnic municipalities as well as in villages surrounding Karlovac where war victims from Bosnia-Herzegovina - namely Croats from Banja Luka and its surroundings as well as from central Bosnia - occupy houses owned by the Serb refugees, said Josip Zaborski, Karlovac deputy mayor and head of the Regional Office for Refugees and Displaced Persons in Karlovac. According to data collected by this office, there are around 4,000 Bosnian Croats in Karlovac County who are faced with difficulties in finding jobs in places where they are now accommodated. The unemployment problem and areas, particularly of agricultural significance, that have still not been cleared of mines, as well as the reconstruction of the homes of displaced people are making the entire process of return to the county, its towns and municipalities more difficult. (Hina) is /mbr 201306 MET jul 98