Sarajevo  - Some 2,000 former prisoners of war, members of 51 war prisoners associations in Bosnia's Muslim-Croat Federation, gathered Friday before government building in Sarajevo for peaceful demonstrations demanding a resolution of status from the entity's government.

According to Murat Tahirovic, president of the Association of Prisoners of War, the government should create grant former war prisoners "minimal rights and benefits," more than 12 years after the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

All civilians who spent at least three days in a detention facility during the war should be given the status of a 60-per-cent invalid including benefits and regular monthly disability pay, the association said.

The former soldier who were prisoners of war should be given status of the invalid of war and should be treated as 20-per-cent invalids with adequate benefits, they added.

Former war inmates said Friday's protest was just a warning and that more massive protests would be organized if the government failed to resolve the issue soon. (dpa)