INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POST-DAYTON BOSNIA CLOSES

ZAGREB, March 17 (Hina) - A two-day international conference on post-Dayton Bosnia-Herzegovina, which gathered 260 politicians, diplomats and scientists from 43 countries, closed in Zagreb on Sunday evening. Non-compliance with the Dayton peace agreement prevents the return of about 200,000 refugees, the director of the International Centre for Migrations, Jonas Widgren, said. Widgren warned that the critical fifth year of exile, when refugees are given permission to take up permanent residence in countries which have received them, was in progress. This must be a summer of return because without a mass return the Dayton agreement will not be implemented and states without people are not states, he stressed. The director of Eastern European studies in Washington, Janusz Bugajski, said that current prospects for the future of Bosnia- Herzegovina were not good. Without strong international support, Bosnia will not survive, he emphasized. Bosnian Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic said that the Dayton agreement had ended the fighting and produced an asymmetric, complex state made up of two completely different entities. Nevertheless, Bosnia-Herzegovina will remain part of Europe, oriented toward its basic values. The question is how much time it will take for its integration, and with more prudence and tolerance, this can be achieved relatively quickly, Prlic said. (hina) vm mm 171126 MET mar 97