AROUND 4000 SERBS RETURN TO KARLOVAC COUNTY & LIKA REGION

( Editorial: --> 6778 ) PLASKI/PLITVICKA JEZERA, Aug 29 (Hina) - About 1,300 Serb refugees have returned to the Plaski municipality in Karlovac County from the Danube region, Yugoslavia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Karlovac regional office for refugees and Plaski municipal authorities said. Some 1,700 Bosnian Croat refugees, mostly from central Bosnia and Banja Luka, are accommodated in Karlovac County. Around 1,200 Bosnian Croats and 28 Croat returnee families from Australia are living in the Krnjak municipality. The Australian returnees have started investing in farming and agriculture, a municipal representative said. More than 3,000 Serbs have returned to the nearby municipalities of Plitvicka Jezera (former municipality of Korenica), Udbina and Donji Lapac, in the Lika region. The return of Serb citizens was organised by the Government Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees in cooperation with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). A large number of Serbs, who have Croatian documents, have returned outside of the Government return programme. The head of the regional office for refugees in Korenica, Ana Cicak, said that 1,350 Bosnian Croats were living in Korenica. Unemployment is the most difficult problem for these refugees, Cicak said. (hina) rml 291354 MET aug 98