U.S. EMBASSY OFFICIALS VISIT CENTRAL BOSNIA

TRAVNIK, Aug 12 (Hina) - Officials of the United States Embassy in Bosnia-Herzegovina, headed by Valerie B. Webster, visited the Central Bosnia canton on Tuesday. They met the head of the canton, Ivan Saric, to discuss establishment of government institutions in this ethnically mixed canton, organisation of Travnik as cantonal seat, return of refugees and displaced persons, and establishment of a cantonal police force. The US officials expressed concern about events that had occurred in the Croat-controlled town of Jajce earlier this month. They expressed satisfaction with the Open Town project which was being implemented in Busovaca. The United States will encourage that initiative with 500,000 dollars for the repair of housing. "The incident in Jajce occurred at the time when that town had opened to returning Moslems, and the incident would not have happened if the mass return of Moslems had been organised," Saric said. Criticising the international community for failing to take into account all facts with regard to the return of refugees and displaced persons, Saric cited the case of Travnik where 2,000 houses had been rebuilt for Moslems and another 520 were being repaired. He said that Moslems were not returning to the repaired houses but stayed in Croat houses and apartments. Saric emphasised that there were three times more displaced Croats than Moslems in that canton who had nowhere to return to. "Everyone has the right to return but the practical implementation of that policy is far from that right," he said. Saric said he believed that the Sarajevo agreement on the Central Bosnia canton would be fully implemented. The US officials were scheduled to meet deputy head of the canton Adnan Terzic later in the day. (hina) vm 121811 MET aug 97