4 OUT OF 11 EXPELLED CROAT FAMILIES ALLOWED TO RETURN

TRAVNIK/NOVA BILA, 11 June (Hina) - Four out of 11 Croat families, who were expelled by the Muslim authorities from Travnik (central Bosnia) late last night, received permission to return to their homes, representative of the Bosnian Croat authorities, Mirko Batinic, told the Croatian news agency Hina on Tuesday. The expelled Croats had returned to their empty homes in the last few months after living in exile for three years. The main argument of the Bosniac authorities for last night's expulsion of Croat families was that they had not been registered with Travnik (Bosniac) police. A Croatian Defence Council (HVO) officer said that Muslim police started to round up the Croats around 10.30 pm last night and then transported them to Donje Puticevo, a village on the former line of separation between the HVO and the Bosnian army. The expelled families of about 30 members, including three children, spent the night in a primary school in the Croat- controlled village of Nova Bila. Bosnian Muslim police also demanded that the parish priest, friar Slavko Petrusic, leave his parish along with the expelled Croats. Petrusic informed by telephone the Archbishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, and the commander of Bosnian Federal armed forces, Major-General Filip Filipovic, about the incident and Major-General Filipovic managed to obtain permission for Petrusic to stay in his parish. The head of the Nova Bila-based Travnik municipal leadership, Mirko Batinic, said on Tuesday that he had asked representatives of the Dutch IFOR battalion to check the reports of the local Bosniac authorities that the expelled Croats had not been registered with Bosniac police. 'IFOR officials have established that all Croats, who were expelled last night, had registered with Bosniac police'. 'IFOR protested to the Bosniac authorities in Travnik about the way and the time in which the expulsion was carried out', Batinic said. The Dutch IFOR units promised to the Nova Bila municipal leadership that they would intensify patrols in Croat villages in Travnik municipality. It was expected that the International Police Task Force would also intensify control, Batinic said. 'Since the Bosniac municipal leader in Travnik, Mirsad Granov is away on business, I have talked to the County Prefect, Zeir Mlivo. He said that the incident would be investigated right away. This is an encouraging sign, and I believe that the Bosniac authorities have realized how damaging last night's incident is and that the rest of expelled families will be allowed to return. I hope that similar incidents will not happen again', Batinic said. (hina) rm jn 111719 MET jun 96