RETURN OF CROATS TO CENTRAL BOSNIA IS CRUCIAL - NOBILO

WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Hina) - The return of Croat refugees from central Bosnia was the key to the success of the Croat-Moslem Federation, Croatian Ambassador at the UN Mario Nobilo said in New York on Monday. "Without the return of around 130,000 Bosnian Croats to the area under Moslem control, Bosnian Croats will have little urge to share power in the Bosnian Federation. Central Bosnia, which is the home of a third of Bosnian Croats, is the key to the success of the Bosnian Federation," Nobilo said at a UN General Session, during a discussion on Bosnia. "Only about 36,000 Bosnian refugees returned to Bosnia in the last year, and hardly any of them returned to the area under Moslem control or under Bosnian Serb control". He said that Croats were not returning to central Bosnia "not only because of obstructions of various illegitimate local authorities, but also because of an unequal distribution of international help, as well as for the total lack of the investigation of the International War Crimes Tribunal of war crimes against Croats in central Bosnia". "My government has been informed by a member of the Contact Group that 97 percent of humanitarian help had been distributed via Moslem authorities. Such form of distribution, if the information is correct, is unacceptable," Nobilo said. The Federation is also being slowed down by the lack of working and living area for Croats in Sarajevo, he said. He added that the new internal structure of Bosnia-Herzegovina was an acceptable, even the best possible mechanism for a stable Bosnia-Herzegovina under the current circumstances. "This stability can be strengthened by further linking the Bosnian Federation to European security and economic structures," Nobilo said. (hina) lm 171002 MET dec 96