Herzegovina, Jan 31, SPA -- Ministers from Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro met in Sarajevo Monday to discuss the problem of hundreds of thousands of refugees remaining from the 1990s wars during the breakup of Yugoslavia. Fighting between Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks left millions displaced, and many never returned from their places of refuge in one of the three neighboring countries. The 1992-95 Bosnian war alone claimed 260,000 lives and turned half of the country's prewar population of 4 million into refugees. In a November report, a group created by the Norwegian Refugee Council at the request of the United Nations estimated that Bosnia is still home to 320,000 displaced people and Serbia-Montenegro to 250,000. In Croatia, from where about 200,000 Serbs fled or were expelled during Croatia's 1995 offensive to recapture land seized by Serb rebels during the 1991 war, only about 70,000 have returned. The UNHCR estimates that some 100,000 Bosnian Serbs still live in Serbia-Montenegro. Despite international efforts to encourage refugees to resettle in prewar homes, many are reluctant to live in tiny enclaves among hostile neighbors, where they often face poverty and few job opportunities. The Sarajevo conference, hosted by the Bosnian Council of Ministers, was being held under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Commission.
