UNHCR: EASTERN SLAVONIA SERBS HAVE NOWHERE TO GO

SARAJEVO, 21 Feb (Hina) - The U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday called on eastern Slavonia Serbs to remain in the area after the establishment of Croatian authority and condemned attempts by some local Serb leaders to force their people to an exodus. #L# UNHCR spokesman in Sarajevo, Kris Janowski, on Friday said that his organisation holds that the stay of Serbs in eastern Slavonia is the only reasonable and acceptable solution and that statements by some local Serb leaders who are anticipating an exodus of Serbs from the area are irresponsible and alarming. Such statements are aimed at creating fear among the local Serb population in eastern Slavonia, Janowski said, adding the UNHCR wanted to make it clear that eastern Slavonia Serbs have nowhere to go. Yugoslavia, with hundreds of thousands of refugees, is not a solution for eastern Slavonia Serbs, nor is Republika Srpska, where refugees often live in pitiful conditions crowded in centres for collective accommodation. The UNHCR warns eastern Slavonia Serbs that those who are talking them into immigration are consciously driving their people to poverty, Janowski said. The UNHCR is encouraged by guarantees given by the Croatian Government to eastern Slavonia Serbs who lived in the area before the war. However, a similar message should also be sent to those Serbs who arrived in the area as refugees, Janowski said. (hina) rm mm 211421 MET feb 97