Munich, 7 April 1997 (RFE/RL) - The German provinces of Bavaria and Berlin say they will continue deporting Bosnian refugees despite pleas by the U.N. High Commission for refugees to slow the process.
In separate statements over the weekend, both Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein and his Berlin counterpart Joerg Schoenbohm said the deportation of refugees should encourage many others to leave voluntarily. Throughout Germany, there are believed to be some 315,000 Bosnian refugees, most of them Muslims.
The Berlin Interior Minister said in a television interview that he recognized that the situation in Bosnia is difficult. But he said it was time that the refugees returned home and assisted in the reconstruction of their country.