PLAN OF RETURN OF REFUGEES FROM GERMANY TO BOSNIA SOON TO END ( Editorial: --> 2106 )

( Editorial: --> 2106 ) TRAVNIK, Nov 19 (Hina) - A German government commissioner in charge of refugees and reconstruction in Bosnia-Herzegovina told Central Bosnian Canton officials on Wednesday that the projects of returning refugees accommodated in Germany and reconstruction of the Canton for 1998 would be completed within three weeks. Dietmar von Schlee asked Canton head Ivan Saric and his deputy Adnan Terzic for a list of the Canton's objective needs so that Germany could coordinate the plans to the last detail. The project would be realised by our SFOR troops, von Schlee said, requesting that refugees get involved in the reconstruction. Out of the 250,000 refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina in Germany, 20,000 come from your canton. Refugees from Republika Srpska are a special problem because they are mostly Bosniacs (about 150,000 of them), most of whom do not wish to return to Republika Srpska, but to the Central Bosnian or Sarajevo Cantons, von Schlee said. Saric and Terzic dismissed this possibility, warning that the arrival of these refugees would completely interrupt the demographic balance in the canton, which is founded on parity between Bosniacs and Croats. About 66,000 Croats had to return to their homes in the Central Bosnian Canton, Saric said, adding that "if Bosniacs, originally from Republika Srpska, arrived, there would be no Croats here, nor a parity-based canton, which would jeopardise the whole project of the Bosnian Federation". We shall not insist on projects which are in opposition to the interests of the two peoples in your canton, von Schlee said. He announced a possibility of favourable credits which would be granted by relevant German state institutions for the reconstruction of blocks of flats and for the development of small- scale and middle-scale businesses. (hina) lm 191828 MET nov 97