SARAJEVO ARCHBISHOP ON WAY BACK TO BOSNIAN CAPITAL

( Editorial: --> 9094 ) SARAJEVO, April 23 (Hina) - Sarajevo Archbishop Cardinal Vinko Puljic and a group of Croats evacuated from Derventa under SFOR protection are heading towards Orasje from where they will head back to the Bosnian capital, according to sources close to the Catholic Church in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On Thursday Cardinal Puljic, about 50 believers and some priests were due to take part in a religious service in Derventa but were besieged for the whole day by a mob of about one thousand local Serbs. They were saved by troops from SFOR's Nordic-Polish brigade who evacuated them from the Serb-controlled town in northern Bosnia and transported in bullet-proof buses. Tonight Sarajevo Auxiliary Bishop Pero Sudar made an announcement in the Bosnian capital in relation to the Derventa incidents. He said the organisation of the first Catholic religious service in Derventa following the expulsion of Croats had been notified earlier, with the appropriate approval given including written assurances from the municipal head and the Bosnian Serb government. Bishop Sudar said all security guarantees had been given for the arrival and several-hour visit to Derventa by 650 believers. He expressed disappointment that SFOR troops did not allow the movement of buses with believers which had come from the direction of the Croatian border city of Slavonski Brod. (Hina) mb /ha 232249 MET apr 98