BOSNIAN SERB AUTHORITIES MUST GUARANTEE SECURITY TO RETURNEES

SARAJEVO, Jan 28 (Hina) - Bosnian Serb authorities pledged to investigate immediately last Sunday's attack against Bosniak (Moslem) displaced people at Gajevi, northern Bosnia, and to provide conditions for the return in a zone of separation for all refugees who have permission for coming back. That was the most important result of Monday's meeting in Banja Luka between Bosnian Serb entity's president, Biljana Plavsic, Carl Bildt, SFOR commander General Crouch and IPTF (international police) Commissioner Fitzgerald, said a spokesman for Bildt, the international community's top peace administrator in Bosnia. Serb entity authorities condemned any violence and failure to respect the procedure of the return. Bosnian Serb interior minister received instructions how to carry out a comprehensive investigation, the spokesman Colum Murphy told a news conference in Sarajevo. Joint patrols of local and international police would be established along the inter-entity boundary in the separation zone, which should offer additional guarantees for the security and safety of returnees (in Gajevi), he added. Murphy said international officials in Bosnia-Herzegovina insist that all refugees should be enabled to come back. The return of refugees is important to all people in Bosnia- Herzegovina, that is one country with two entities, Murphy noted. He told reporters that Carl Bildt would travel to Banja Luka on Wednesday for talks with Plavsic on what had been done as regards the Gajevi case. Although it was announced that no one could enter the Gajevi area 48 hours after Moslem workers, who were setting up pre- fabricated houses, were attacked by a Bosnian Serb mob on Sunday, a spokesman for the Stabilization Force (SFOR), Tony White, said that eight Moslems had returned to Gajevi on Monday to continue working despite threats by Bosnian Serbs. A spokesman for the UNHCR, Kris Janowski, cautioned that one should wait for several days and see whether Serbs were really ready to carry out agreements. On Monday Bosnian Serb Pale-based television and radio continued propaganda war against the announced return of Moslem refugees to their homes in the zone of separation. They released a short statement on the Banja Luka meeting which contained no indication that Serb entity authorities had assumed any commitment of ensuring security of returnees. The statement accused Moslems (Bosniaks) of "illegal trespassing on the Republic of Srpska." (hina) mš 281407 MET jan 97