IZETBEGOVIC: BRCKO SHOULD BE GIVEN BACK TO ITS ORIGINAL INHABITANTS

( Editorial: --> 9173 ) SARAJEVO, Mar 12 (Hina) - Alija Izetbegovic, Chairman of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, said on Thursday that Brcko should be given back to the people who lived there before the war and that any other arbitration decision on the status of the town would be considered unacceptable. Speaking today at a rally in Sarajevo, convened by his Muslim-led Party of Democratic Action under the motto "Justice for Brcko", Izetbegovic called on the Sarajevo Serbs who had found refuge in Brcko to return home and thus make room for indigenous Bosniaks (Muslims) and Croats, who made up most of the population of that northern Bosnian town before the war. An arbitration decision on the status of Brcko is due on 15 March. Following his meeting today with Biljana Plavsic in Banja Luka, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said he urged the Bosnian Serb President to "carry on with her constructive politics", whatever the decision by the arbitral tribunal presided by the American Robert Owen. (Hina) mm mr /mb 121946 MET mar 98