ZAGREB, Dec 1 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic on Friday received a delegation of the Association of Croatian Immigrants and Settlers who informed him about the difficulties in the solving of their livelihood issues. Mesic
hailed the Association's stance that all displaced persons were in fact victims of war and that difficulties they were facing should be removed. "Those who wish to remain in Croatia must be enabled to do so, as well as make it possible to them to exercise their rights, and those who wish to return to Bosnia-Herzegovina must be enabled a safe return and dignified life, in cooperation with the international community," Mesic told reporters after the meeting. According to him, it was not good for those who have the right to property to be in conflict with those who have the right to live. The state must help overcome these obstacles, with international assistance aimed at opening u
ZAGREB, Dec 1 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic on Friday
received a delegation of the Association of Croatian Immigrants and
Settlers who informed him about the difficulties in the solving of
their livelihood issues.
Mesic hailed the Association's stance that all displaced persons
were in fact victims of war and that difficulties they were facing
should be removed.
"Those who wish to remain in Croatia must be enabled to do so, as
well as make it possible to them to exercise their rights, and those
who wish to return to Bosnia-Herzegovina must be enabled a safe
return and dignified life, in cooperation with the international
community," Mesic told reporters after the meeting.
According to him, it was not good for those who have the right to
property to be in conflict with those who have the right to live. The
state must help overcome these obstacles, with international
assistance aimed at opening up economic facilities and loans for
the construction of homes. This issue must be resolved
systematically, Mesic stressed.
Asked whether it was possible to expedite the return of Croats into
the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska, Mesic said the meeting
had also focused on that issue, and a consensus had been reached
that everybody should be able to return.
He assessed that the international community supported the regime
in Republika Srpska which does very little for the return of Croats
and Bosniaks to their homes.
According to the President, the international community should
undertake more than it had been undertaking so far. He also holds
that insufficient pressure had been exerted on the international
community to assist the renewal of the economy, as a big problem
present factories which are not functioning due to a lack of funds.
The international community should also financially support the
implementation of the Dayton Agreement, he added. This should
contribute to the reaching of a turning point when Republika Srpska
will realise that it would never ally with Serbia and that Croats
and Bosniaks were a constitutive people within it, as this is a
decision reached by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-
Herzegovina. There are, however, still people who refuse to
recognise this fact, Mesic asserted.
He called on Croats to exercise their right and vote in places from
where they came, notwithstanding the fact where they reside today,
so the results of ethnic cleansing could not be recognised.
Mesic endorsed the efforts and ways in which the association wishes
to overcome the accumulated difficulties in areas of special
government care.
(hina) lml