HERZEGOVINA CANTON CROAT OFFICIAL REFUSES PLEA FOR MASS RETURN

( Editorial: --> 2193 ) MOSTAR, Aug 6 (Hina) - Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Interior Minister Valentin Coric refused a suggestion by the Jablanica Municipal Committee for a mass return of Bosniaks (Moslems) to the villages of Doljani and Sovici in that municipality. "Every mass return opposes the adopted plan for return into the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and slows down the organised return of people who truly want to return to their homes," Coric stressed in Thursday's letter to the Committee. "Mass, unorganised return becomes a means of political pressure and in no way contributes to solving the problems of displaced and exiled persons," Coric said. He stressed that such returns "motivate the creation of chaos, cause anxiety and insecurity in people who truly want to return to their homes, which slows down organised returns". Coric warned that "there is no completely defined political agreement to these mass cases of return, which places the police in a position in which they cannot, despite all their efforts, guarantee safety to everyone who has returned home". He expressed belief that the Bosniak side, especially the Jablanica Municipal Committee for the Return of Bosniaks, would "advocate the organised return of all displaced and exiled persons, not only the return of one ethnic group, and a return which would provide guarantee for the safety of every returnee". (hina) lml 061937 MET aug 98