BY THE END OF 1998 20,000 NON-BOSNIACS SHOUOLD RETURN TO SARAJEVO

( Editorial: --> 9196 ) SARAJEVO, 3 Feb (Hina)- On Tuesday the international community charged authorities in FBH and the Sarajevo canton with streamlining the return of non-Bosniacs to the area of the BH capital and set tight deadlines for achievement of that goal. A declaration passed at the end of a conference on the return of minority refugees to Sarajevo, obliges Bosniac authorities to amend the laws that made it impossible for Sarajevo refugees to the flats where they lived before the war. If they do not comply they will be penalized, threatens the declaration. Sarajevo authorities were ordered to safeguard the return of at least 20,000 non-Bosniacs by the end of this year. The firs step in that direction should be the annulment by 17 February of a war time regulation declaring tenancy rights of all persons who left their town during the war void. The Declaration refers specifically to the Sarajevo Serbs who now live in Brcko and should be enabled to return to their homes and to the Jews who left Sarajevo in 1992. They did it wuith a permit by city authorities, but were later banned from returning to their homes. Cantonal authorities must immideatelly and without discrimination start implementing the abolition law and all citizens should be guaranteed unrestricted access to all public documents. Furthermore, by July 1999 state housing stock should be revised so that nobody could use more than one state owned flat. It has been estimated that the revision would enable at leat two thousand tenants to return to their flats. The educational system should also be reformed to give equal education to all children. By the end of June text books should be purged from all the material that fans ethnic passions. The declaration also calls for special measures for creation of more jobs and prevention of all kinds of discrimination at work. High Representative for Implementation of the Dayton Accords Charles Redman did not grant the request by President of the BH Presidency for conditioning of the implementation of the Sarajevo Declaration with similar measures for the Banja Luka region. He aid that similar meetings conferences would be held in other BH towns. Bosniac authorities said they were especially unhappy about the fact that they were faced with a final draft of the Declaration, which the did not have the time to study. (Hina)jn mr 032238 MET feb 98