Wolfgang Petritsch, the head of the international administration that effectively is running Bosnia and helping implement the 1995 Dayton peace accords, said many of the returns are spontaneous. We are there to create the circumstances conducive to return. The success at Kozarac is partial. While about 1,000 houses have been rebuilt here with international aid, and families have gotten other support, such as livestock, the town still is a ruin. There is no post office, telephone system, junior high school, medical clinic or salaried employment.
Symbolic progress is ample, though, as three mosques are under construction.
Where local officials consistently obstruct laws intended to permit the refugees' return, Petritsch can wield a big stick. So far, he has removed 63 officials from office and banished them from future public service. The process requires that every claim for return be dealt with in the order received. Legal aid offices set up by international organizations help prepare claims and complaints. We take the book of claims.