UNHCR SARAJEVO DAILY MEDIA DIGEST
28 MARCH 2002

AGREEMENT GUARANTEES SYMMETRIC SOLUTION IN BOTH ENTITIES; PETRITSCH
SARAJEVO, 27/03 (ONASA) - The agreement on constitutional changes, signed
early on Tuesday in the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Sarajevo by the representatives of only three Federation parties, guarantees symmetric solution of the vital national interest protection in both entities, High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch said. "The essence of the solution is absolutely symmetric in both entities," Petritsch told reporters in Sarajevo. The agreement has been fully endorsed only by the Party for BiH, the New Croat Initiative (NHI) and the BiH Social Democratic Party, whereas the parties from the Republika Srpska - the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP), the Alliance of Independent Social-Democrats (SNSD), the RS Socialistic Party (SPRS) and the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) - accepted it only in principle, with the BiH Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) and Democratic Action Party (SDA) refusing to subscribe to it. Petritsch said the agreement was a historic document, which represents the biggest challenge that BiH leaders have faced since the signing of the Dayton Agreement. He said the document will be forwarded to the parliamentary procedure in both BiH entities, but did not want to say what would happen if the parliaments, which must adopt it in full, refuse it. Petritsch also refused to say whether he is ready to impose it. The Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), which met today at ambassadorial-level, also welcomed the signing of the agreement. SDP President Zlatko Lagumdzija said the support of the PIC Steering Board was additional encouragement for its realisation and final implementation of the BiH Constitutional Court's ruling on the constituent status of all people in BiH, adopted two years ago. At the news briefing, Lagumdzija called on the political parties who refused to sign the agreement, to get involved in its implementation. "That would help us to finally overcome political debates and start talking about the economic problems," Lagumdzija said.

BIH REFUGEES RETURN FROM HUNGARY
SARAJEVO, 27/03 (ONASA) - The BiH Ministry for Human Rights and /Refugees
and BiH Embassy in Hungary, as well as authorised entity ministries and the UNHCR, have organised the repatriation of the BiH refugees, sheltered in refugee centres in Hungary. According to a press release from the Ministry, the refugees include 27 mentally ill persons, who have been hospitalised in Jakes near Modrica before the war. The return to BiH will develop in two phases. In the first phase, which will start on Thursday, 40 BiH refugees are expected to return. Their prewar places of residence are mostly in the Republika Srpska, so they will be accommodated in the reception centre in Bosanski Petrovac until return to their homes. The Hungarian authorities have provided the returnees with assistance in ood, hygienic products and medications worth 16,000 Euro. Symbolic allowances have also been ensured. The ill persons, currently sheltered in the hospital of the refugee centre Debrecen in Hungary, are to return in the second phase.

HEAD OF JAJCE MUNICIPALITY PROMISES ASSISTANCE TO SERBS
BRCKO, 27/03 (ONASA) - Head of the Jajce municipality Branko Cavar said on Wednesday in Brcko at a meeting with displaced Serbs from Jajce that "all 3,400 property claims will be solved by the end of August this year." At the meeting which was organised by the Center for Informative and Legal Assistance of the Brcko District, Cavar expressed the readiness of the municipal authorities to help the returnees and stressed that "Jajce is a municipality of displaced persons in which approximately 10,000 housing units are damaged," which with the lack of alternative accommodation additionally hampers the return. Most of approximately 3,500 displaced persons from Jajce, who have been living in Brcko since 1995, have expressed the readiness for the return to Jajce. According to President of the Homeland Club of Jajce Inhabitants in Brcko Milan Dakic, approximately 60 Serbs have returned to Jajce, although more than 120 housing units have been returned to them. He stressed that the main reasons for weak results in the return to Jajce is the impossibility of employment of returnees.

THIRTY-SIX APARTMENTS FOR ALTERNATIVE ACCOMMODATION
BIJELJINA, 27/03 (ONASA) - Republika Srpska Minister for Refugees and Displaced Persons Mico Micic signed on Wednesday with the heads of the Bijeljina and Ugljevik municipalities the agreements on the construction of 36 apartments for alternative accommodation. According to these agreements, 20 apartments will be constructed in Janja in the Bijeljina municipality and 16 apartments will be constructed in Ugljevik. These apartments are assigned for displaced Serb families, which have to leave the Bosniak property. The apartments will be used as alternative accommodation, namely until these families solve the status of their property in the area of the BiH Federation. The value of this project is 500,000 KM. Half of the funds will be provided by the RS Government, while other half will be provided by the Bijeljina and Ugljevik municipalities. It is expected that the construction of these apartments be ended in 70 days.

SERB REFUGEES IN KOTORSKO CAN CONTINUE TO CONSTRUCT HOUSES; SAVIC
DOBOJ, 27/03(ONASA) - Serb refugees in Kotorsko will be able to continue to construct family houses on plots, delivered to them by the Doboj's Municipal Assembly, a legal representative of the Republika Srpska's Government in the BiH Human Rights Chamber Stevan Savic said on Wednesday. Savic told reporters that he today received a decision made by the Chamber on March 8 at its plenary session on Kotorsko. He said the Chamber decided that the complaints by a group of Kotorsko residents were unacceptable. The Chamber on January 9 withdrew an order on temporary measures by which the RS had to stop further allocation of plots and the construction on these plots. "Since the Chamber declared the complaints unacceptable, there is no longer a ban to the further construction of facilities on all 125 plots in Kotorsko," Savic said. The Municipal Assembly two years ago allocated 125 plots free-of-charge to the Serb refugees in Kotorsko to build houses. Last year, Bosniak returnees submitted a complaint to the Chamber demanding the stoppage of the construction until the property-legal relations on five plots are solved. The Office of the High Representative (OHR) said it knows nothing about this new decision of the Chamber.

PI/OCM UNHCR Sarajevo
28/03/02