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.