GENEVA, Sept. 29 -- The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that recent Muslim and Croatian offensives in Bosnia-Herzegovina have swelled its beneficiary population in former Yugoslavia to more than 3.5 million. Spokesman Ron Redmond said about 417,000 people have been displaced from fighting in Bosnia since July, predominantly ethnic Serbs who fled Muslim or Croatian offensives in Krajina and northern Bosnia. Redmond said that while progress towards a political settlement is being made in former Yugoslavia, millions of people will remain dependent on humanitarian aid through the winter and beyond. 'We welcome the progress being made toward a political settlement in former Yugoslavia. But we also urge the international community to ensure that respect for human rights and humanitarian principles, including the right of refugees to return home, are included in any discussions on an overall peace plan,' said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata. 'Such provisions are crucial for a sustainable peace and recovery in the region.' More than 36,000 people fled the former eastern Muslim enclaves of Srebrenica and Zepa in July, followed by 14,000 Serbs who fled the western Bosnian towns of Glamoc and Grahovo in late July for the Banja Luka region. In August, more than 200,000 Croatian Serbs fled the Krajina region for rump Yugoslavia, Banja Luka, or other Serb-held parts of Bosnia- Herzegovina. In mid-September 127,000 Serbs fled to Banja Luka after fighting broke out in western Bosnia. To accommodate the new wave of refugees, UNHCR recently increased its estimated 1995 budget requirement for former Yugoslavia by some $34 million to $206 million.
Much of the increase is aimed at providing assistance to the more than 170,000 Croatian Serbs who fled to rump Yugoslavia. Redmond said that in addition an estimated 127,000 recently displaced Serbs from the Banja Luka region are badly in need of assistance. Many are living in bombed-out homes and buildings, or in some 105 ill- equipped collective centers across northern Bosnia.
