BUGOJNO CROATS SEND OPEN LETTER TO SENIOR BOSNIAN OFFICIALS

BUGOJNO, Aug 11 (Hina) - The Bugojno Municipal Council and the Municipal Committee of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ B-H) party sent an open letter to senior Bosnian Moslem and Croat government officials on Monday appealing for help in implementing the provisions of the Dayton peace agreement relating to the return of refugees to their pre-war homes. The letter was sent on behalf of 15,000 displaced Croats from Bugojno to Bosnian Presidency members Alija Izetbegovic and Kresimir Zubak, Federation president Vladimir Soljic and Federation minister and deputy minister for refugees and displaced persons Rasim Kadic and Damir Ljubic. The letter said that the Moslem municipal authorities in Bugojno had failed in the last 20 months to implement a pilot project aimed at returning 200 Croat families to that town. It added that 186 families that had returned were not allowed to use their private property. Since July 1993, 2,550 Croat houses and more than 1,000 commercial buildings owned by Croats had been destroyed, as well as Roman Catholic churches and cemeteries, the letter said. The Croats of Bugojno stressed in the letter that despite everything that had happened they wanted to build mutual confidence and create better living conditions, demanding that competent Croat and Moslem officials ensure conditions for the return of displaced Croats as well as for Moslems elsewhere in the Federation. "We, the Croats of Bugojno, demand implementation of the conclusions of the Sarajevo meeting of August 5 this year, when it was decided that the Central Bosnia canton should be proclaimed open and that displaced persons should be ensured unobstructed return in the entire territory of the canton," the letter concluded. (hina) vm 111931 MET aug 97