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Croatia Allows a Few Serbs to Return to Krajina
200,000 Serbs fled the Krajina region 11 months ago.
By Zoran Radosavljevic
Up to 200,000 Serbs fled to Serbia and Bosnia when Zagreb's troops recaptured the Serb rebel enclave of Krajina, which had opposed Croatia's independence since 1991. Some 10,000, mostly women and elderly, remained. Under the auspices of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 20 Serbs arrived in Zagreb on Tuesday to be reunited with their family and relatives in the Krajina region.
Zagreb says some 8,000 Serbs have managed to return so far. But most of those still in Serbia fear reprisals by their Croat neighbours or possible legal prosecution for armed rebellion against the Zagreb government. Human rights monitors have reported a wave of looting, killing and harassment of the remaining Serbs in Krajina despite Croatia's pledges to observe minority rights.
"I wasn't afraid to return. I had health problems so I didn't join the Serb army," said Dusko Bjelanovic, 48, one of the 20 refugees who regained his home on Tuesday. "My wife and mother still live there," he said. Bjelanovic said most of the Serbs who fled to Serbia now wanted to return to Croatia "regardless of what may have happened to their houses and property."
"We wouldn't have left at all had our politicians not pushed us," he said.
U.N. officials warned that Croatian authorities were unwilling to allow most Serbs to return and were using
administrative obstacles to prevent repatriation. "Only one category of Serbs can now return -- those who have family members and relatives living in Croatia," said Mostafa Khezry, a UNHCR protection officer. "Then those relatives have to apply to Croatian authorities for the permission to return."
The UNHCR had urged Zagreb to allow the return of those Serbs whose elderly relatives lived in isolated villages in Krajina. "There are about 3,000 people who are aged over 55 and are labelled as "extremely vulnerable'. They either have no work or are too old and ill," said Khezry. "If their family members don't return before winter it will be very difficult for them to survive," he said.
Another U.N. official said Croatia had set up bureaucratic obstacles for Serbs trying to come back. "The administrative process is often very slow and burdensome. It takes months and months and the authorities require extremely detailed information on every returnee," said the U.N. official. "There is no amnesty law for those people. Whoever returns can be prosecuted for rebellion," said the official, who asked not to be named.
Croatia recently granted amnesty to Serbs living in their last enclave of Eastern Slavonia. The law does not cover Serbs living elsewhere but Zagreb says all except suspected war criminals were pardoned by an earlier amnesty law.
The UNHCR official disagreed with Croatia's account. "That law is not a legally valid text. It is deliberately ambiguous to create confusion. It doesn't specify who is a war criminal -- and keep in mind that all Serbs had been drafted into their army," the official said. |
ZAGREB, July 16 (Reuters) - Croatia allowed a small group of Serb refugees to return to their homes on Tuesday but U.N. officials said the government was blocking the repatriation of thousands of other minority Serbs who fled last August.
Berserkistan, July 16 · Court Acquits 6 Croats of Murdering Serb Civilians in Krajina
Berserkistan, July 11 · UN Still Dissatisfied with Croatia Amnesty for Serbs
Berserkistan, July 11 · Croatia: UN Has No Business Meddling in Human Rights Issues
Berserkistan, July 3 · Council of Europe Urges Croatia to Abide by Dayton Deal
Berserkistan, June 28 · Croatia Excludes 811 from from Serb Amnesty Law
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