Komšić: RS authorities must stop destroying returnees' property

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić called on the authorities of the RS entity to respect the Dayton Peace Agreement, Annex 7 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, given that the planned route of the Banja Luka – Prijedor highway envisages the demolition of a number of returnee houses and the destruction of property with which the returnees and property owners do not agree, and they insist on changing the highway route.

“The planned route of the Banja Luka-Prijedor highway, in the part of the returnee settlement of Kozarac, divides this settlement into two parts, envisages the demolition of a number of returnee houses and the expropriation of agricultural land of returnees, as well as those who have not yet returned. In this way, the right of expelled persons, refugees and displaced persons to freely return to their pre-war homes in Kozarac, a right guaranteed by Annex 7 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, is jeopardized,” said Chairman Komšić.

“Annex 7 of the Dayton Peace Agreement guarantees that ‘all refugees and displaced persons have the right to return to their homes freely’, that ‘the Parties shall take all necessary measures to prevent activities within their territories which would impede or prevent the safe and voluntary return of refugees and displaced persons’, and that they will ‘facilitate the return of all those who need it as quickly as possible from abroad to their homeland’.

“The authorities of the RS, contrary to Annex 7, through their activities around the construction of the highway through Kozarac, want to permanently stop the return from abroad to the mentioned area and to expel those who have already returned, but this time permanently, to the countries from which they returned to Kozarac. The authorities of the smaller BiH entity should, in the same way as in the case of returnee settlements in the vicinity of Modriča, relocate the highway route in a way that avoids the demolition of returnee houses in the Kozarac area,” said Chairman Komšić.