CITIZENS OF DISPUTED TOWN WAIT FOR A FINAL DECISION, 1999-02-17 (photo)

A refugee stands in front of a war-torn house February 16 at the federation side of the boundary line between Bosnia's two autonomous territories near the disputed northern town of Brcko. Thousands of Moslems and Croats expelled from Brcko by the Serb forces during Bosnia's 1992-95 war are waiting at the outskirts of town for the decision which would return them to their pre-war homes. The status of Brcko, claimed by both Bosnia's entities, the Moslem-Croat federation and the Serb republic, is to be decided by the international arbitrator Roberts Owen next moth. Hearings of both parties before the arbitration tribunal in Vienna ended on Tuesday. DSS