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OSCE and ICG reject irresponsible reporting of Bosnian weekly
SARAJEVO 21 January 2003
SARAJEVO, 21 January 2003 - The OSCE and the International Crisis Group (ICG) strongly reject the weekly Slobodna Bosna's reporting on the international community's activities and efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as a "shocking and offensive distortion of the truth".
They regret the magazine's assertion, in its 16 January issue, that the international community has given up, and reject it as being both groundless and incorrect. Such irresponsible reporting is particularly regrettable when it concerns the return of refugees.
In their respective ways, the OSCE Mission in BiH and the ICG are fully committed to the implementation of Annex 7 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (GFAP), also known as the Dayton Peace Agreement. This accord provides for a just and durable solution for more than 400,000 remaining internally displaced persons and refugees in BiH.
Slobodna Bosna's portrayal of the OSCE as "scandalously supporting ethnic cleansing" is absent from the ICG report and has no basis in fact. Indeed, it is a shocking and offensive distortion of the truth. The OSCE Mission's support to the return of all property to its owners is unrelenting and the Mission's work in this area has clearly demonstrated that it does not favour any group or ethnicity.
They regret the magazine's assertion, in its 16 January issue, that the international community has given up, and reject it as being both groundless and incorrect. Such irresponsible reporting is particularly regrettable when it concerns the return of refugees.
In their respective ways, the OSCE Mission in BiH and the ICG are fully committed to the implementation of Annex 7 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (GFAP), also known as the Dayton Peace Agreement. This accord provides for a just and durable solution for more than 400,000 remaining internally displaced persons and refugees in BiH.
Slobodna Bosna's portrayal of the OSCE as "scandalously supporting ethnic cleansing" is absent from the ICG report and has no basis in fact. Indeed, it is a shocking and offensive distortion of the truth. The OSCE Mission's support to the return of all property to its owners is unrelenting and the Mission's work in this area has clearly demonstrated that it does not favour any group or ethnicity.