Banja Luka, January 31, 2001 (IKA/KTA) — A regional conference on the return of refugees and displaced persons to Bosnia-Herzegovina was held in Banja Luka on Tuesday, January 30. The framework of a strategy for promoting the more rapid return of refugees in 2001 was decided upon. This strategy requires greater responsibility by the authorities at all levels, as well as obedience and complete implementation of the laws and property regulations in both entities of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was agreed that it would be necessary to locate target groups of refugees and displaced persons via the Government Fund for Return who were in the most need of assistance in order to assure the control of funds earmarked for return. It was stated at the conference that there are still 625,000 refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina living in other countries, while within both entities of Bosnia-Herzegovina there are 530,000 displaced persons. Since the end of the war, 700,000 persons have returned to their homes. The conference participants supported the proposed undertakings that should contribute to accelerate return, but also expressed certain doubts regarding their implementation. The prime minister of the Serb Republic, Mladen Ivanić, cited problems that make return difficult, such as the frequent arrests of persons who return to their houses in Croatia and the lack of coordination between the property regulations in the two entities of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The federal minister of social policy, refugees and displaced persons, Sulejman Garib, said that he was concerned about instances of the distribution of free land to refugees, which discouraged the return of the original owners. He emphasized that the Serb Republic must do much more to promote the return of ethnic minorities. Garib also stated that of the 435,000 damaged buildings throughout the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina, only 120,000 have been repaired. The speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Zlatko Tomčić, noted that for Croatia the question of return is not political but financial. “Why do those who make decisions, i.e. politicians, fail to make them at the tempo and in a manner that would assist return, and why do those who can assist return financially do nothing?” asked Tomčić. Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka proposed the following: “Let those people who want to stay there remain, but make it possible for them to live a life of dignity, not in houses belonging to others. And for those who want to return, why is this not made possible. Why don’t we belong to anyone?” Twenty thousand Croats who would immediately return to the Banja Luka region are waiting for answers to these questions.
In two months, another major conference on return will be held in Sarajevo.