THE HAGUE, 23/08/03 - Ambassador Jerkic of Bosnia-Herzegovina is surprised at the bureaucracy that led to a Bosnian family being made to leave an asylum seekers' center in Middelburg. Jerkic sent his official car to Middelburg on Thursday evening to collect the family.

The family had to leave the center on Monday, after the 28 days within which a voluntary return must be arranged had expired. Jerkic declared that the Bosnians were not yet able to leave because of problems with their travel documents, although these would be solved within a few days. He has arranged for the family to stay at a hotel and assumes that the situation arose from a "clumsy misunderstanding. "

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) said on Friday that asylum seekers whose application procedures have failed and for whom a return to their home country is possible but cannot be arranged within 28 days can obtain dispensation from eviction from the center. A spokesman was not prepared to comment on the ambassador's action.