KNIN OSCE OFFICE SAYS RETURN HAMPERED BY NUMEROUS OBSTACLES

( Editorial: --> 1202 ) SPLIT, Sept 17 (Hina) - The head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) regional office in Knin, Andreas Kohlschuetter, on Wednesday said that there were numerous obstacles to the implementation of the Government programme for refugee return. The Government Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees has taken over the responsibility to provide decent accommodation for returnees but what happens is that they are left without food on the first day of their arrival in war-ravaged areas, Kohlschuetter told reporters in Split. Many housing commissions are not working well, he said. It is unnecessary and aggravating for the commissions to insist that all tenants, who lived in a facility in 1991, have to submit claims for the return of property, he said adding that it was sufficient for such claims to be filed only by the owner. Furthermore, the housing commissions are not making enough efforts to find accommodation for returnees whose houses are currently occupied by displaced Bosnian Croats. No one wants to evict Croat refugees, but some of them have occupied several houses and flats and the housing commissions are still not resolving those situations, Kohlschuetter noted. As positive examples Kohlschuetter named the municipalities of Udbina and Otocac. The OSCE has also witnessed cases of violence against returnees in two villages near Knin, the OSCE official said expressing at the same time satisfaction with the police response in one of those cases. However, there have been cases of brutal police conduct, he added mentioning a case of maltreatment of a returnee who illegally crossed the border in the area of Knin. (hina) jn rml 172033 MET sep 98