SOLJIC CALLS FOR COMPLETE REFUGEE-RETURN PROGRAMME

SARAJEVO, Aug 4 (Hina) - The president of the Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina, Vladimir Soljic, on Monday called on the international community to work out a return programme for all refugees and displaced persons in BH, warning that relative activities to date mostly worked to the disadvantage of the Croat people, Soljic's office said in a statement issued after recent incidents in Jajce, central BH. The president of the BH Federation pledged to do all in his power to make a complete analysis of the incidents and to see that appropriate steps be taken against those who caused them, the statement said. "At the moment I don't have all the necessary information, but the time at which this is happening and the way it has been done indicates the possibility of a directed incident. As usual, the victims are innocent people, and the most probable aim is to spoil relations between the Republic of Croatia on one side and the Federation of BH on the other, especially prior to the Tudjman-Izetbegovic meeting", said Soljic in his statement. The statement also pointed out that to date the Croat side called on Bosniaks and Serbs to implement Annexe VII of the Dayton Accord, referring to the return of all refugees and displaced persons, but in line with a plan and programme enabling a safe, continuous and steady return of members of all three peoples and all citizens of BH. "The course of the process of the return of displaced persons is progressing to the complete disadvantage of Croats, as the least numerous people and the one with the highest percentage of displaced persons in BH, which drastically altered the ethnic picture in the Federation", the statement warned. Soljic recalled the international community was assisting in a return action of Serbs to Drvar or Bosniaks to Jajce, whereas no such action was aimed at the return of Croats. With his statement, the president of the BH Federation called to attention examples of obstructions to the return of Croats to Sarajevo, Bugojno, Zenica and Gornji Vakuf, as well as to Muslim-held eastern Mostar, from where 7,500 Croats had been expelled. Regardless of this, the Croat side made the return of thousands of Bosniaks possible to villages such as Zepce, but there was no proper answer to such acts, the statement said at the end, appealing that a complete return programme be worked out as soon as possible, and that in case of possible standstills in its implementation, decisive measures be undertaken, as envisaged in the Sintra document. (hina) ha jn 042147 MET aug 97