Geneva, 5 August 1997 (RFE/RL) - The German government today blocked aid to the Bosnian-Croat controlled town of Jajce after mobs there over the weekend expelled hundreds of Muslim refugees who had returned to the town.
Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel called Sunday's mob action in the town near Sarajevo "a slap in the face" for peace efforts in Bosnia. He said Germany has now blocked some half a million dollars in reconstruction aid recently designated for Jajce. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today said it will urge Bosnian Croat authorities to allow the return of the more than 300 Bosnian Muslims who were forced from Jajce.
UNHCR spokesman Pamela O'Toole called the weekend events appalling. Under the Dayton peae accords which ended Bosnia's war one and-a-half years ago, all refugees have the right to return to their homes.
Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel called Sunday's mob action in the town near Sarajevo "a slap in the face" for peace efforts in Bosnia. He said Germany has now blocked some half a million dollars in reconstruction aid recently designated for Jajce. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today said it will urge Bosnian Croat authorities to allow the return of the more than 300 Bosnian Muslims who were forced from Jajce.
UNHCR spokesman Pamela O'Toole called the weekend events appalling. Under the Dayton peae accords which ended Bosnia's war one and-a-half years ago, all refugees have the right to return to their homes.