ZAGREB ZAGREB, Sept 6 (Hina) - The issue of the return of refugees into the Banja Luka region and Bosanska Posavina (Republika Srpska) must be solved with more intensity and with joint efforts by the authorities in Croatia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina and the international community, Croatian National Parliament president, Zlatko Tomcic, said Wednesday at a round-table conference in Zagreb held under his auspices. Participants, including representatives of the Parliament, Government, the Bosnian Federation, ambassadors and representatives of religious communities, concluded certain preconditions had to be fulfilled to make it possible for refugees and displaced persons to return to their pre-war homes. They also concluded they expected the Croatian and Bosnian governments and the international community to pass concrete decisions about the return of refugees and displaced persons. Participants initiated t
ZAGREB, Sept 6 (Hina) - The issue of the return of refugees into the
Banja Luka region and Bosanska Posavina (Republika Srpska) must be
solved with more intensity and with joint efforts by the
authorities in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the international
community, Croatian National Parliament president, Zlatko Tomcic,
said Wednesday at a round-table conference in Zagreb held under his
auspices.
Participants, including representatives of the Parliament,
Government, the Bosnian Federation, ambassadors and
representatives of religious communities, concluded certain
preconditions had to be fulfilled to make it possible for refugees
and displaced persons to return to their pre-war homes.
They also concluded they expected the Croatian and Bosnian
governments and the international community to pass concrete
decisions about the return of refugees and displaced persons.
Participants initiated the establishment of joint Croatian and
Bosnian parliamentary committees for return, which would adopt a
joint decision on the return of refugees.
The Croatian Parliament was requested to found a working group to
organise and draw up detailed conclusions which would be forwarded
to the Croatian Government, Council of Ministers of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, international organisations and ambassadors.
"Returning home is the basis for stabilising relations in the
region," Tomcic said.
He recalled that following the most recent elections, Croatia had
made significant steps towards solving the issue of returnees, and
stressed it was ready to accommodate all those who do not wish to
return to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Everybody has the right to choose
their place of residence, Tomcic asserted.
Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula stressed that the issues of
the rights of return and stay should not be issues of political
manipulation, because these were basic human rights.
Bosnia-Herzegovina is an "open wound" and an incomplete project of
the international community. Croatia will be consistent in
negotiations and stimulating the return of refugees to their homes
in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Picula asserted.
Croatian Parliament vice-president Zdravko Tomac criticised the
Dayton Agreement, asserting that five years after its signing,
refugees from the Banja Luka region and Bosanska Posavina were
losing more and more rights in Croatia, without there being any
possibility for them to realise their rights in Bosnia-
Herzegovina.
After Dayton, the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been
"frozen", Tomac said.
He stressed the Dayton Agreement had been necessary for ceasing the
war, and a compromise to be reached, but the situation now was such
that progress must be made and the results of ethnic cleansing
annulled.
The Bishop of Banja Luka, Franjo Komarica, stressed he expected
concrete results and the implementation of decisions, because it
was a fact that decisions were being made at sessions which were not
being implemented on the field.
Applauding an agreement between Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino
Picula and premier of the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska,
Milorad Dodik, on the issue of return, Bishop Komarica stressed the
results of return so far were defeating, given the fact that only
474 Croats have returned to Republika Srpska in the past six months,
and 1,090 in the past four years.
(hina) lml