BOSNIAN REFUGEES' REPRESENTATIVES HOLD MEETING IN MOSTAR

MOSTAR, July 16 (Hina) - Representatives of refugees from all three Bosnia's constitutive peoples held a session in Mostar on Wednesday to discuss the return of refugees to their pre-war homes or their permanent accommodation in new places of residence. Stefo Masatovic, a Croat representative, said that about 2,500,000 Bosnia-Herzegovina's refugees had been registered. Of them, 1,300,000 are displaced persons either in the Croat-Moslem Federation or the Serb entity, and about 1,200,000 refugees are outside the country. According to Masatovic, representatives have agreed that they will convene another meeting in Mostar for July 24, when ministers from both entities, who are in charge of refugees, are expected to attend it. "At that meeting we shall define a joint proposal and forward it to Bosnia-Herzegovina's presidency, the Bosnian Council of Ministers, the international community's High Representative and UNHCR so that permanent accommodation begins for those refugees who have decided on a new place of their residence," Masatovic said and added that it would be proposed that a state-run real estate agency be founded. According to the head of the Bosnian refugees' association, Mirhunisa Komarica, there are refugees who would like to stay in areas where they are now living but those who want to return to their former permanent places of residence should be enabled to do so. A Serb representative, Lekso Kovac, said that "the insistence on the return to former homes has not succeeded so far as there are more of those who would like to stay in their current places of residence." He also advocated that doors should not be closed for those who would like to return to their homes. (hina) mm mš 161802 MET jul 97