Above all, because the International Community, which insists on repatriation, is definitely not prepared to pay for the full price of the return arrangement for the Serbs. Maybe only for the ticket home. These days, the Croatian government has published a document in which it guarantees (for now) the individual return of Croatian Serbs to Croatia; essentially, this is just the first Croatian response to the ever increasing pressure from the International Community. Although with this document the government in advance "distanced" itself from the mass return of Croatian Serbs from FRY and RS, emphasizing that the concrete obligations can only be accepted after the conference of donor countries, one shouldn't doubt that the intended, individual return will in time develop into organized mass return. Not because of the fact that the refugee Croatian Serbs have suddenly fallen in love with their homeland, but because they will choose the lesser among the two "evils". They will return at least to obtain the documents and take care of unresolved property issues. The Serbs don't care whether Croatian refugees from Croatia and neighboring Bosnia-Hercegovina will be able to resolve their problems. Unfortunately, the International Community obviously doesn't care about that either; instead of concrete financial aid the International Community has so far only offered false hopes. The last of them is called "The conference of donor countries" which should take place in Zagreb in May.
Although the International Community will at the conference pledge very little money and express a lot of enthusiasm for the return of the local Serbs, the Republic of Croatia must not accept their [Serbs] organized mass return, until the same rights, with assistance from the International Community, are guaranteed to all expelled Croats and Croats living abroad.
Translated on 4/10/98