(1 Oct 1996) English/Nat
The German government has announced it will forcibly repatriate over 300-thousand Bosnian refugees.
Around ten percent of Bosnia's pre-war population fled to Germany during the conflict - some of the refugees are fighting to be allowed to stay in their adopted country.
Germany says it's costing the government millions of dollars a year to support the influx of Bosnian refugees.
Aid agencies have criticised the decision saying the refugees will be homeless if they are forced to return to former Yugoslavia.
The war-ravaged Bosnian capital almost a year after the conflict ended in former Yugoslavia.
These were the former homes of thousands of displaced Bosnians - who now have nowhere to go. It's a grim prospect for many former residents of Sarajevo who've lost everything in the war.
In Tuzla hundreds of Bosnian Muslims held protests against the international community's decision not to allow them to return to their former homes in the Serb entity.
Bosnian refugees who escaped abroad during the war are also having difficulties in trying to rebuild their lives.
The 300-thousand refugees who fled to Germany are now faced with forced repatriation. The German authorities has decided to send the Bosnians back home as soon as possible.
Some refugees have hired lawyers to help them try and remain in Germany.
The Bosnian authorities say they have no choice but to accept the wishes of the German government.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The least we can do as a government is to cooperate with German authorities as well as every other international organisation and the other relevant governments that these people do not suffer more than they have to in process of return."
SUPERCAPTION: Mirza Hajric, Bosnian presidential advisor
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is less enthusiastic about the Germans' decision though - UNHCR believes many refugees will be homeless upon their return.
SOUNDBITE:
"The UNHCR regrets the decision by the Interior Ministers of Germany which makes it possible to start with forcible repatriation of Bosnian refugees from Germany as of today."
SUPERCAPTION: Mans Neuberg, UNHCR Spokesman
The refugees' reluctance to return to Bosnia stems from the lack of free movement that still exists in many areas, coupled with the fact that they lost everything they had during the four-year war.
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