SATURDAY INCIDENT WILL NOT PREVENT RETURN OF REFUGEES - SFOR

SARAJEVO, 20 Jan (Hina) - The Stabilization Force (SFOR) and International Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia started an investigation into an incident, which happened late last Saturday, in which a bridge, located a few kilometers outside Celic, on a road toward Koraj, northern Bosnia, was damaged. Perpetrators were still not known and it still had not been established what kind of explosive had been used, SFOR spokesman Jan Joosten told reporters in Sarajevo Monday. #L# The bridge was severely damaged in the blast. The incident occurred on the territory which is part of the Croat- Muslim Federation. The areas of Celic and Koraj, northern Bosnia, have been known in the past two months for great tensions, which arose because Bosnian Serb authorities have been trying to prevent the return of Bosniac refugees to their villages located in the separation zone along the inter-entity separation line. Thirty-six Bosniac families should return on Wednesday to the village of Gajevi, Serb entity, near the village of Koraj, said Chris Janowski, spokesman for the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The first attempt of Bosniac refugees to return to their village ended up in open conflicts with Serbs so that all refugees who wanted to return had to submit special requests to UNHCR. Such request were approved only after all data were checked. According to Janowski, the damaging of the bridge was surely not a sign that they were welcome, but the incident would not prevent their return. Returnees had already received construction material for 15 houses from humanitarian organizations, Janowski said. (hina) rm 201432 MET jan 97