HIGH REP'S OFFICE IN SARAJEVO SPEAKS ABOUT SARAJEVO DECLARATION

( Editorial: --> 0204 ) SARAJEVO, July 28 (Hina) - The suspension of assistance for the reconstruction of Sarajevo on the part of certain donors has lately been one of the chief subjects of public debate and the cause of many contradictory reports. Assistance was suspended because city authorities were not implementing a Sarajevo declaration on the return of refugees and displaced persons. The office of the international high representative for Bosnia on Monday issued an explanation on the matter. Passed on February 3, 1998, the Sarajevo Declaration stipulates the return of 20,000 Serbs, Croats and other non-Muslim pre-war residents of Sarajevo by year's end. Even though the return of members of minority peoples is unsatisfactory throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina, especially in the Bosnian Serb entity, the participants in the conference which passed the Declaration agreed that as a capital with a history of multi-ethnic coexistence, Sarajevo should be an example. Earlier on, Sarajevo authorities had pointed out to numerous instances in which one person or family were illegally using more than one apartment or house in the capital. The Declaration called on the capital's authorities to identify 500 such cases of "multiple use of flats" by April 1 and another 1,500 by June 30. After the Declaration was passed, cantonal authorities and international organisations identified hundreds of cases, but almost none was resolved, said a statement from the high representative's office. The high representative and the ambassadors of the Administrative Committee of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) on May 27 presented the chairman of Bosnia's collective Presidency Alija Izetbegovic with a list of 261 such cases, requesting his assistance. According to data of the Sarajevo Housing Commission, only 26 cases so far have been resolved or are in the process of being resolved, while authorities have not made any additional effort to identify cases of multiple flat use. This situation resulted in the suspension of assistance, to which the high representative agrees and, said the statement from his office, will support as long as the situation fails to improve. The PIC Administrative Committee expressed similar views last Wednesday in Brussels, while simultaneously expressing disappointment with the performance of Sarajevo's authorities. The Committee demanded immediate and transparent action to make the return process go forward as soon as possible. The statement from the high representative's office recalled that so far Sarajevo was given more assistance than any other Bosnian town or canton. Eighty million of DM400 million went to the restoration of the housing fund. (hina) ha jn 281201 MET jul 98