UN RAPPORTEUR VISITS HERZEG-BOSNIAN CANTON

TOMISLAVGRAD, Nov 29 (Hina) - Special UN human rights rapporteur, Elisabeth Rehn, on Saturday visited Tomislavgrad in the Herzeg- Bosnian Canton (south Bosnia). After the meeting, Rehn said she had spoken with Canton officials about the position of refugees and displaced persons, and about the position of the Bosniak (Muslim) minority in the region (in which Croats are a majority). President of the Herzeg-Bosnian Canton Assembly, Mijo Tokic, said Canton officials had informed Rehn in detail about the status of the Bosniak minority and the respect of human rights. Tokic said Rehn had also been informed about problems of Croats displaced from central Bosnia (Bugojno) who were accommodated in the Herzeg-Bosnian Canton. Canton representatives had not completely agreed with Rehn regarding school curriculums, Tokic said, because she gave priority to a unified school curriculum in the Bosnian Federation, and they gave priority to a school curriculum at the Canton level. He added they had resolutely dismissed claims that a war tax was being collected in the municipality. The war tax had been collected only in the first nine months of the war. (hina) lm jn 291709 MET nov 97