Zagreb, Thursday
AN armoured convoy of emergency supplies for stranded UN peacekeeping
troops made it through Serb lines into the Muslim-held Bihac pocket
today, United Nations sources in Zagreb said.
It was one of the few weak rays of hope in darkening scenario for the
UN and Nato, as Serbs pressed a relentless attack on the ''safe area''
of Bihac town, defying the divided Western allies to intervene.
The convoy's safe passage through territory held by rebel Serbs from
the Krajina region of Croatia was the first test of an agreement to
defuse the latest crisis facing the UN operation in Bosnia.
The 10 white vehicles, mostly armoured personnel carriers, were
carrying emergency rations, fuel and winter supplies for 1200 stranded
Bangladeshi peacekeepers.
UN sources said it crossed Serb territory safely and reached a
rendezvous point where the cargo was transferred to other vehicles for
the final stage of the journey to a UN logistics base at Velika Kladusa.
The Bihac pocket is a 500 square mile enclave of 190,000 people, its
area shrinking rapidly as Serb forces gobble up territory.
The town of Bihac, a UN-designated safe area and current home to
50,000, was the scene of renewed heavy fighting between Serbs and mainly
Muslim Bosnian army forces today.
Intense fighting was reported on the outskirts.
''They (Serb forces) are at least a few kilometres inside the safe
area,'' a UN source told Reuters.
Edward Joseph, UN civil affairs official in Bihac, reached by
telephone, said:
''We've got a very serious situation developing. There's now intensive
fighting to the south, southwest and west right at the edge of the town
limits if not in the town itself. It's rattling the windows.''
As today's resupply convoy set out, UN spokesman Michael Williams said
its fate would be the first test of the UN's bid to rein at least one
part of the Serb forces attacking Muslim-held Bihac.
''I cannot over-emphasise the critical period in which we now find
ourselves,'' he said. ''We are not ruling out further use of force. In
the next day or two something has to be done to arrest the deterioration
of the situation.''
A UN source said the convoy members ''had dinner at Bosanska Bojna and
are now proceeding on their way to the logistics base at Velika Kladusa.
They are inside BiH (Bosnian government) territory.''
The convoy's safe passage was dependent on the keeping of a promise by
the leader of the Krajina Serbs, Milan Martic, to the United Nations
special envoy Yasushi Akashi.
Akashi, seeking a local ceasefire in Bihac, said Martic also promised
in talks in Belgrade yesterday that his forces would cease all military
participation in Bosnian Serb attacks on the Muslim-held Bihac enclave.
Williams said if all went well with the first convoy, a second on
Saturday would bring weapons and ammunition to the UN peacekeepers, who
had arrived without their supply train.
UN relief agencies which have been unable to deliver food aid to the
enclave since early this summer were hoping for word that four big
convoys could start out on Saturday to bring flour, rice, lentils and
beans to Bihac civilians.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Suleyman Demirel telephoned Bosnian
President Alija Izetbegovic today to say that the United Nations and
Nato should do more to halt Serb attacks on Bihac.
''President Demirel told him he found the reaction of the United
Nations against Serb attacks on Bihac was not enough, and that Nato air
strikes on Serb emplacements should be more effective, considering the
fact that Bosnian Serbs continue to disregard the decisions of the
international community,'' Demirel's office reported.
The telephone conversation between the two leaders took place as Serb
troops were moving in on the Muslim-held Bihac pocket.
Nato launched two attacks on Serb missile sites on Wednesday and
staged a major attack last Monday to disable the runway at the Udbina
airfield in Serb-held Croatia.
Turkey has always supported its fellow Muslims in Bosnia, and from the
start of fighting in Bosnia has called for more effective action by the
West against Serbs.--Reuter.
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