Xinhuanet, June 16, 2005
Nearly 150,000 foreign refugees registered in Serbia-Montenegro
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro, June 15 (Xinhuanet) -- There are nearly 150,000 foreign refugees registered in Serbia-Montenegro, as the disintegration of former Yugoslavia and following wars led to huge migrations, the UN refugee agency said Wednesday.
According to the data until May this year, a total of 141,467 refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia confirmed their status in Serbia, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Belgrade Office said in a statement.
The statement said that 40,949 of them are from Bosnia-Herzegovina and 100,518 from Croatia.
It said according to a previously announced registration, thereare 6,103 Bosnian and 2,345 Croatian refugees in Montenegro.
The Serbian government said in its website that the fighting inCroatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1990s led to huge migrations, particularly of the Serbian and Montenegrin populations, who foundrefuge in their mother republics -- Serbia and Montenegro.
The UNHCR statement added that some 60,000 refugees have returned to Croatia by 1996, and some 52,000 to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
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