IPTF SATISFIED WITH ESTABLISHMENT OF HERZEGOVINA- NERETVA CANTONAL POLI

NERETVA CANTONAL POLI $ CE MOSTAR, Aug 12 (Hina) - International Police Task Force spokesman in Mostar Kelly Moore at a Tuesday press conference expressed satisfaction with the progress in the establishment of cantonal police in the Herzegovina- Neretva Canton. The joint police establishment process in said Canton would be completed by 15 August, she said. After 31 August, the IPTF would not recognize any police units in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina not registered with the IPTF, Moore pointed out. As she recalled, UN's special envoy in BH Kai Eide had requested of Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic to reach an agreement with the IPTF by 31 August at the latest, according to which no police previously unregistered with the IPTF would be recognized in the Bosnian Serb entity either. The head of UNHCR's office in Mostar, Neill Wright, said today he supported a joint procedure for the return of displaced persons to the Mostar area issued last week by the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton's Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons, Omer Hujdur. After the procedure was published in the Sarajevo and eastern, Bosniak (Muslim)-controlled Mostar media, Mostar Mayor Ivan Prskalo stated he had never consented to anyone for the procedure's proposal. Wright confirmed Prskalo never officially answered the proposal for the procedure, but he recalled that on several occasions, Prskalo seconded the right to return envisaged in Annexe 7 of the Dayton peace accord. During talks with Wright, Prskalo pointed out that a sudden return of a large number of displaced persons would cause security problems, Wright said. He explained the return procedure - the registration of those interested to return to the Mostar area, and how to obtain information on the condition of the houses the displaced abandoned. Wright said that more than 700 Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs had sent return requests to Minister Hujdur's office. The head of the Mostar office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Edward Joseph, called on the media to be objective in reporting on events in BH. (hina) ha jn 121354 MET aug 97