From: hrcoord@igc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: CROATIA: Dutch grant entry to refug
Date: 30 Jul 92 18:24:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700299:000:4364
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jul 30 11:24:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: CROATIA: Dutch grant entry to refug

/* Written 12:13 am  Jul 30, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: CROATIA: Dutch grant entry to refugees stranded at border/UPDATE/


an inter press service feature

by l.l. pitter

att editors: the following item updates 'yugoslavia: refugees
stranded at slovenian-croatian border' moved earlier
from zagreb

zagreb, jul 27 (ips) -- ''i had to hear the screaming outside my
window all day,'' melvida karaliasauovic said explaining that serb
fighters were torturing 700 muslim men imprisoned in a school
nearby her home including her cousin nedjad huremovic.

the next day, huremovic -- one of only 400 men who she said
survived the detention --, melvida and most of the other muslims
in her town were rounded up, told to pack enough belongings for
one day, and loaded onto busses and trucks headed for an unknown
destination.

now, two-and-a-half months and a few refugee camps later, melvida
is one of 332 muslims from all over war-torn bosnia hercegovina
waiting at the slovenian-croation border for permission to travel
across europe to the netherlands. their passage had initially been
put together by merhamet, a muslim aid organisation, which
arranged for accommodation and transportation.

but once they arrived over the weekend at the slovenian-croatian
border authorities would not let them through because the group
did not have papers from the dutch government. germany, austria
and slovenia were wary of being forced to provide for the group if
the netherlands turned them away.

forty eight hours later, the dutch foreign ministry in the hague
announced that the group of primarily women and children would be
granted temporary entry into the netherlands. ''this decision was
taken purely on humanitarian grounds,'' a ministry statement late
monday said.

as a result, melvida can count herself among the lucky ones. her
cousin didn't even make it to the border. he was turned away at
the bosnian-croatian border and told by croatian authorities to
return to bosnia and fight for his country along with the other
men in the group.

melvida is from bratunac, just one of many areas in bosnia-
hercegovina which were once dominated by muslims. but now the
muslim majority is gradually shrinking through expulsions or
killings. described as 'ethnic cleansing', it is happening all
over bosnia-hercegovina if which serbian forces now control two-
thirds. (more/ips)

croatia: dutch grant entry to refugees stranded at border/update/(2-e)

yugoslavia: dutch (2)

everyone on melvida's convoy on the border has a similar story to
tell. melvida is reluctant to continue telling hers because ''no
matter what i say, i will never be able to relay the horror i felt
then.''

nesmina hamzic, 32, has two children and her third is two weeks
away from being born. the last time she saw her husband was on
april 17 before she was forced from her home when the serbian
forces took over her town of derventa. now he's fighting in bosnia-
hercegovina.

when asked if she thinks she will ever be able to return home to
live peacefully among croats and serbs again, she says, ''with the
croats yes - serbs no. people who were my friends until yesterday
looted my house.''

meanwhile, muslims from bosnia-hercegovina continue to stream
into croatia. over the weekend 5,000 muslim refugees who fled from
northwestern bosnia-hercegovina earlier in the week left for
germany by train. but many more who want to flee to the west are
still in croatia.

german chancellor helmut kohl has asked other european community
countries to do their share in providing for the refugees as well.

hundreds of thousands of bosnians have crossed into croatia since
fighting started in the neighboring republic. earlier this month
the croatian government, which is now caring for more than 600,000
refugees, announced it was unable to provide for any new ones.

one refugee refusing to leave the slovenian-croatian border said
she hadn't come all this way for nothing.

''everything that i love is in sarajevo and i didn't want to
leave my home,'' she explains. but, ''i just have to get out of
hell,'' she said. (end/ips/ip/llp/jmd/92)