KUPLENSKO, Jan 13 (Hina) - After giving some encouraging initial results, the attempts to sway the Moslem refugees in Kuplensko to go back home turned back to snail's pace over past few days, U.N. agency said on Saturday. The
officials with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees said a total of 8,740 refugees had so far left their make-shift shelters in the Croatian village of Kuplensko and returned to their homes in the neighboring Bosnian towns of Velika Kladusa and Cazin.
KUPLENSKO, Jan 13 (Hina) - After giving some encouraging initial
results, the attempts to sway the Moslem refugees in Kuplensko to
go back home turned back to snail's pace over past few days, U.N.
agency said on Saturday.
The officials with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees said
a total of 8,740 refugees had so far left their make-shift shelters
in the Croatian village of Kuplensko and returned to their homes in
the neighboring Bosnian towns of Velika Kladusa and Cazin. #L#
The office of Bosnia's Bihac canton prefect Mirsad Velagic
reported some 12,000 of the refugees to return.
Though their number has significantly downed, some 8,000 to
9,000 were still there and the number of those who had opted to
return over the past few days was negligible, the UNHCR said.
Velika Kladusa refugees have been for months on Croatia's
territory. They have sought shelter in make-shift accommodation
along a road in the town of Kuplensko near the border with Bosnia.
After having defeated the Velika Kladusa tycoon and Moslem
separatist Fikret Abdic who aligned himself with Bosnian and
Croatian Serb rebels in western Bosnia, the Bosnian Government
called on the refugees to come back home, and guaranteed security
and safety to them.
As the refugees did not want to return in fear of retribution
by the government-led forces, Bosnian, Croatian and Turkish
government officials formed joint police force to ensure favorable
conditions for the return.
(Hina) bk
131153 MET jan 96