$ TS TRAVNIK/JAJCE, 4 Aug (Hina) - The Interior Ministry of Central Bosnia Canton on Monday morning sent a report to Prefect Ivan Saric explaining in detail the course of events in this weekend's incidents in the area of Jajce,
central Bosnia.
INCIDEN
$ TS
TRAVNIK/JAJCE, 4 Aug (Hina) - The Interior Ministry of Central
Bosnia Canton on Monday morning sent a report to Prefect Ivan
Saric explaining in detail the course of events in this weekend's
incidents in the area of Jajce, central Bosnia. #L#
According to the report, Jajce municipal representatives,
Bosniac representatives and members of the Stabilisation Force
(SFOR) met on 1 August to discuss the situation caused by the
setting up of a barricade on the road Bihac-Sarajevo in Vaganj,
near Jajce.
The three sides agreed that: the unorganised return of
Bosniac refugees to Jajce area (Divicani, Kruscica, Bucic,
Lendic, Kupresan and Sibenica) should stop; that the persons who
returned without previous announcement should return to their
place of residence before the return; and that a centre for the
return of displaced persons and refugees be founded immediately.
Satisfied with the agreement, some 2,000 participants of
the protest removed the barricade on the same day.
"Their justified revolt caused by the unorganised return of
Bosniacs was, regretfully, expressed with the inexcusable burning
down of Bosniac property on the night between 1 and 2 August (two
cowsheds in Psenik, two houses and a cowshed in Bistrica)."
At the time the report was being written, the information
on the killing of one person in the incidents was still not
confirmed.
Despite the agreement of 1 August, on the morning of 2
August, Stabilisation Force escorted six buses and some 30
vehicles with Bosniacs to the above-mentioned villages, the
report said.
The new, unplanned, mass return of Bosniacs, under SFOR
escort, caused a new revolt of Jajce residents and a new
barricade which was set up on the same day in the village of
Zastinje, which resulted in a security crisis, the report said.
During the blockade, IPTF commander for Travnik area, Jane
Grausgruber, demanded that the police use force to remove the
barricade. An attempt to remove the barricade failed because more
than 500 protesters resisted the attempt, and the police had to
give up removing the barricade.
The report of the Central Bosnia Canton Interior Ministry
to Prefect Saric dismissed claims by international
representatives presented at a press conference in Sarajevo on
Monday, who said that Croat authorities in central Bosnia refused
to act and protect the returnees.
During the blockade and in a general atmosphere of tension,
members of the Jajce police station protected the Bosniac
returnees and did for not one moment allow contact between the
two groups, the report said.
Estimating that the situation was still tense, Deputy
Interior Minister Fabijan Trbara on 3 August ordered that Jajce
police forces be reinforced with some 40 police offices from
other Croat-controlled parts of the Canton, and his order was
carried out later.
Acting professionally in a complex situation, police
officers did for not one moment exert pressure on persons of
Bosniac nationality. In cases where SFOR allows it, they
conducted on-the-spot investigations and started investigating
crimes committed by still unidentified perpetrators, the report
said.
(hina) rm mm
041731 MET aug 97