ONLY PRE-WAR INHABITANTS ALLOWED TO RETURN TO MAHALA

SARAJEVO, Sept 2 (Hina) - The situation in the eastern Bosnian village of Mahala, where last week Serb policemen attacked some returnees, was now peaceful, while members of the NATO-led Peace Implementation Force (IFOR) continued to guard all accesses, IFOR spokesman in Sarajevo Bratt Boudreau said on Monday. He confirmed that Serb policemen were prohibited entrance to the village where some 70 Bosniaks, who had arrived two days ago, already started repairing their houses. UNHCR fully supported the return of Mahala refugees, spokesman Kris Janowski said, but not of those who were not living there before. An agreement had been reached that Bosniaks who lived there in 1991 themselves organize inspections of returnees to ensure that only those who lived there before the conflict returned. After an inspection on Saturday, NATO soldiers prevented a dozen members of the Bosnian Army to enter Mahala. NATO and UNHCR representatives today warned that explosives were being planted in abandoned Bosniak houses in the Serb- controlled part of Brcko, northeastern Bosnia. According to Boudreau, three new explosions detonated last night. Janowski said that the fact that three houses in the Serb- controlled part of Brcko were recently mined clearly showed how welcome Bosniaks were to their homes. (hina) ha jn 021444 MET sep 96