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Refugees Can’t Return Home, Frustrated West Waves Sanctions Only 100,000 of some 2.4 million refugees have returned to their homes since the Dayton. By Jovan Kovacic SARAJEVO, June 11 (Reuters) - An international mediator said on Tuesday that Bosnia factions have so far failed to resettle refugees and warned post-war aid would be tied to returning people to their homes. "The situation is particularly frightening. We practically have no refugees returning into areas where they would be an ethnic minority," Michael Steiner, deputy to the High Representative to Bosnia, told reporters in Sarajevo. Prospects for refugees were worse than at the time of the signing of the Dayton peace accord last December, Steiner said. Although the peace pact called for rebuilding Bosnia as a multi-ethnic, integrated state, local nationalist authorities have effectively preserved the divisions wrought by 3½ years of war and tolerated the intimidation of minorities. Authorities across Bosnia have blocked attempts to enforce guarantees for freedom of movement and the right of refugees to return to their homes or be compensated. Steiner said only 100,000 of 2.4 million refugees have returned to their homes since the Dayton accord was signed seven months ago, but virtually no one had dared to venture across inter-ethnic boundary lines. The 100,000 refugees had gone back to territory where their ethnic group remained a majority. Steiner said U.N. relief officials were especially concerned over authorities moving refugees into other people's homes once inhabited by a rival ethnic group. Some 90,000 refugees had been transferred into the homes owned by others, Steiner said. He also recounted recent cases of outright ethnic expulsions by Serb forces in the central town of Teslic. "If you take all this together then you come to a situation in which you might have more cases of refugees going in the opposite direction than returning home," he said. "I think it is safe to say we have a minus development, that means the situation is now worse than when the peace agreement was signed. This is alarming and is also alarming the UNHCR." Under the Dayton accord, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is charged with the daunting task of repatriating refugees after four years of war in former Yugoslavia. Steiner said diplomats from major powers will be briefed about the crisis at a scheduled peace summit in Florence, Italy at the end of the week. "Radical steps are necessary in this field," Steiner said. Progress on repatriation will be tied to reconstruction aid for the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb entity which comprise Bosnia, Steiner said. The UNHCR, the European Union, the World Bank and the office of the High Representative have agreed to link resettling refugees to financial assistance, he said. "That means those who cooperate with the efforts to make the return possible, should get a benefit in economic assistance. Those who do not cooperate should not receive something." He said the hardline Bosnian Serb leadership posed the biggest obstruction to repatriation. Serb opposition to restoring Bosnia's multi-cultural, mulit-ethnic character could prevent the Serbs from obtaining their share of $1.8 billion worth of reconstruction aid pledged by the international community. The Council of Europe said on Tuesday that problems with resettling refugees were threatening the peace agreement. "The Dayton accord... is threatened by delays in the enforcement of civilian measures (and) opposition to its military provisions," said a parliamentary delegation just back from a tour of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Berserkistan, June 11 · Four Croatian Refugee Families Return to Homes in Travnik
Berserkistan, June 8 · Pope Calls on International Community to Help Refugees
Berserkistan, June 5 · Forced Repatriation from Germany Delayed Until October
Berserkistan, June 2 · Serbs Stone Muslims, Croats at Potocani
Berserkistan, June 2 · Serbs Renew Attacks on Refugees at Teslic
Berserkistan, June 1 · Steiner Asks Serbs to Halt Ethnic Cleansing in Teslic
United Nations UN High Commissioner for Refugees' RefWorld Magazine
United Nations Biographie Manfred Kanther

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