A spokeswoman for the UNHCR reported that Serbian commanders introduced road tolls ranging from $140 to $350 per vehicle for UNHCR trucks, trailers, buses and cars driving on roads in Serbian controlled territories in BiH. «The decision is completely unacceptable and we totally deplore it», said spokeswoman Lyndall Sachs. An eight-truck convoy carrying 38 tons of food for Sarajevo stopped at the Serbian checkpoint of Karakaj, on the BiH side of the Drina River west of Zvornik, and was asked to pay the toll. *2813
UNHCR announced that food stocks at its warehouses in Sarajevo were down to two day supplies and could not be distributed because there was no fuel for the trucks. There was fuel at Sarajevo airport, where 16 to 17 relief flights a day continued to arrive, but trucks were unable to get into the city, due to a Serb roadblock, UNHCR said. *2815
On the first anniversary of the start of the Sarajevo airlift, a UNHCR spokesman in Geneva admitted that the humanitarian operation in BiH, which faced growing threats and the imposition of tolls at Serb roadblocks, had never been more difficult. *2816
It was reported that over 60 severely wounded patients were rushed to the Kosevo Hospital after one of the heaviest Serbian bombardments in months. Without power for lights in the operating theatre, surgeons reportedly moved to a small room with picture windows looking toward the mountains, where they worked by natural light without monitors or x-rays. Operating theatres were described as running as they did at 19th century battlefronts with amputations by paraffin lamps; anesthetists hand-pumping oxygen with rubber bladders; chest, abdominal and head surgery without x-rays; and surgeons wearing the same bloodstained gowns for days. *2827
French General Jean Cot, who took over as commander of UNPROFOR on 1 July planned to land in Sarajevo and drive to the UN BiH headquarters at nearby Kiseljak. «The General flew to Split instead and will take a helicopter to Kiseljak», said Colonel Marcel Valentin, commander of UN peacekeepers in Sarajevo. UN bases in Kiseljak were being blockaded by Croat forces in response to the actions of Muslim troops who had sealed off a Canadian UN base at Visoko since Saturday. General Phillipe Morillon, Commander of UN forces in BiH, was inside UNPROFOR's headquarters at Kiseljak when the Croats surrounded it on Sunday morning, and he was unable to leave, UN officials said. The Muslim forces around the Visoko base aimed to prevent the departure of two senior Croat officers including Ivica Rajic, Commander of the Croat forces in central BiH. The United Nations had been trying to negotiate the safe passage of the two Croat officers to defuse the crisis. «This is just one of those pointless exercises which I hope won't last long», said a UN source. *2828
It was reported that from the outset of the city's siege, United Nations officials decided that all aid reaching the Sarajevo area would be divided, with Serbian nationalist forces being given between 20 per cent and 25 per cent, about equal to the proportion of the population in areas under their control. But for several weeks, Serbian leaders in Ilidza, the Serbian- held suburb straddling the route into the city used by relief convoys, had demanded that they be given 50 per cent of all fuel. For a month, the impasse reportedly blocked all fuel convoys. Then last week Serbian forces pledged to allow a United Nations- escorted fuel convoy unimpeded passage and greeted the trucks at the first Serbian roadblock north of the city with glasses of slivovitz, the plum brandy favoured in the Balkans. However, at the next roadblock, the convoy was surrounded by 100 Serbian troops who demanded half of the 120 tons of fuel. After a standoff lasting several hours, United Nations officials surrendered one of the four trucks of diesel fuel. When the convoy advanced to the airport, still several miles from the city, Serbian commanders allegedly demanded one of the three remaining trucks. United Nations officials refused and more than 70 tons of fuel, enough to power essential services in Sarajevo for two weeks, remained blockaded at the airport for seven days. *2829
United Nations officials expressed concern with the collapse of the city's water system. With summer temperatures rising to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the city reportedly was receiving less than 2 per cent of its normal water supply and there were increasing fears of water-borne epidemics as people resorted to drawing water from polluted rivers, wells and springs. *2830
UNPROFOR reported in its weekly summary that the Serb attitude towards the United Nations and UNHCR convoys had deteriorated and the number of restrictions of movements increased. As an example, on 30 June a UNHCR convoy was stopped in Blazuj at 9:00 a.m.. *2838
Peace conference co-chairman Stoltenberg traveled to Zagreb where he met with the UNPROFOR commander General Cot and UNPROFOR staff. *2843
The new commander of the UN forces in the former Yugoslavia, French General Jean Cot, was to have met with Bosnian Serb leader Ratko Mladic and his Croat and Muslim counterparts, Milivoj Petkovic and Rasim Delic, to discuss the military situation. A UN spokesman said that Cot and the new UN commander for BiH, General Francis Briquemont of Belgium, arrived in Sarajevo late Monday, but that the Serb and Croat military chiefs told the UN on Tuesday that they had «problems to attend» the talks. Instead, a «low level» meeting was held at Sarajevo airport by a «mixed military working group» representing UNPROFOR and the three factions. *2844
It was reported that the birth rate in Sarajevo plummeted and an increase was found in the number of abortions since the start of the war. According to Srecko Simic, chief of Obstetrics at the Kosevo Hospital, before the war the hospital delivered 9,000 to 10,000 babies per year as compared to a present rate of 2,000 to 3,000. Dr. Ljiljana Maslesa, of Doctors Without Borders was quoted as saying that before the war, there were two deliveries for every abortion and that now there were two abortions for every delivery. *2845
UN Commission of Experts Rapporteur for On-Site Investigations, William Fenrick in Sarajevo stated that a «considerable amount of evidence» about war crimes in BiH had been collected by a UN probe. «I have a pretty reasonable chance of conviction», Fenrick said. The investigation covered the rape of women, a general study of war crimes, and specific incidents such as the mortar attack on a football game on 1 June in which 11 people were killed. «I don't think any side in this conflict is entirely innocent», Fenrick remarked. He said there was «a lot of material» to bring the suspects to court. «I think it can be done, but I don't know if it would be done», he said, adding: «Progress in this area is extremely slow». His assistant, Lieutenant-Colonel Kim Carter, said it was important to carry out inquiries now, without waiting for the war to end, since «evidence can disappear very quickly, you can lose witnesses». *2846
United Nations envoy Thorvald Stoltenberg was in Zagreb in a new round of shuttle diplomacy to persuade the three warring factions in BiH to agree to a peace plan. He was expected to be joined by co-mediator Lord David Owen, who Tuesday urged the Muslims to talk directly to the Serbs and Croats about their joint plan for a three-sided BiH confederation along ethnic lines. Owen and Stoltenberg were due to go to Belgrade to meet Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. *2849
UN envoy Thorvald Stoltenberg, speaking after he and co- mediator Lord Owen met Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, said he was still waiting for a response from the BiH leadership on whether to open talks. «If this will be negative, that we cannot go on with negotiations, there is much concern about the continued development», he told reporters. Owen urged BiH Tuesday to enter talks with the Serbs and Croats. He said that the partition proposal was the only one currently on offer. *2850
The bulk of the BiH collective Presidency met to consider an inquiry commission report recommending that the country should be a federal state or a protectorate under international control. Both ideas appeared to be at odds with the joint Serb-Croat proposal being pushed by the international mediators for a confederal division of BiH into Serb, Croat and Muslim mini-states. Muslim leaders said that such a partition would reward military aggression and crowd the Muslims into ghettoes with little freedom of movement or economic opportunity. Mirko Pejanovic, a Serb member of the BiH Presidency, said that the commission formed last month to consider the partition plan would recommend a federal state with «substantial provincial, cultural and social autonomy». This would fall well short of the Serb-Croat confederal proposal, implying three autonomous states in charge of all their own affairs with a weak central government. *2851
The peace conference co-chairmen traveled to Belgrade, where they met with UNPROFOR and UNHCR representatives. They also met with representatives of the SPO Party and the Farmer's Party, and doctors treating SPO party leader Draskovic. Meetings were also held talks with Yugoslav President Lilic,and Foreign Minister Jovanovic, and later with President Milosevic and Bosnian Serb leaders Karadzic and Krajisnik. *2853
The BiH Presidency continued its talks on proposals put forward by the Serbs and Croats that would see the Republic divided up along ethnic lines. BiH President Alija Izetbegovic and others of the 10 member Presidency met in Sarajevo with different BiH political parties to discuss the proposals. According to Presidency member Serb Miro Lazovic, a working group had come out in favour of dividing BiH into four to 18 provinces of federal units, with four being the most likely number. He said that the Presidency had on Wednesday refused the idea that the four provinces be created along ethnic lines. *2854
BiH President Alija Izetbegovic said that the Presidency had already decided to refuse the Serb-Croat proposal being promoted by international mediators. «The ethnic division of Bosnia has been refused», he told a news conference, adding that a meeting of seven out of the Presidency's 10 members had agreed unanimously on the issue. Izetbegovic said that six of the Presidency members would travel to Zagreb on Saturday, where they would join up with three others traveling from Croat-controlled areas, for a formal vote before meeting with co-mediators Stoltenberg and Owen. Izetbegovic said he would stay behind in Sarajevo «because of urgent business». Officials in Sarajevo said that the final vote was little more than a formality. He proposed reconvening the London Conference, saying the government's conditions for participating were a complete cease- fire and free passage of humanitarian convoys. Izetbegovic rejected suggestions that the BiH army was on its last legs saying: «the fight is only finished once you capitulate». Mediators felt that this decision would lead to further bloodshed. Peace mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg said earlier that the alternative to negotiations was an intensified war. *2855
International peace mediator Lord Owen left Belgrade for Zagreb following talks with Serb President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Owen's co-mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg, who also attended the talks was to leave Belgrade later in the day. *2856
Bosnian Serb and Croat military leaders for the second time refused to attend a meeting convened in Sarajevo to sign an accord confirming the city as a «safe area», UNPROFOR spokesman Barry Frewer said. Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic said some work was still needed before he could sign and his Bosnian Croat counterpart Milivoj Petkovic found the road to the city «too dangerous», Frewer reported. Frewer admitted the rejections were disappointing and that, without Mladic's cooperation, it would be difficult for the UN to implement its resolution naming Sarajevo as one of six «safe areas» in BiH. *2857
The UN command awaited the arrival of 150 French reinforcements called into the city to help implement the «safe areas». The troops were reportedly still waiting for authorization to cross a Serb roadblock between Kiseljak and Sarajevo, a French officer said. *2858
In Geneva, the head of the UNHCR, Sadaka Ogato warned that Sarajevo was on the brink of disaster as a result of the tightening blockade by Bosnian Serbs. Ogata said the amount of water available to each person in the city was down to two and a half litres per day and was expected to drop further as the remaining pump ran out of fuel. «The danger of epidemics grows with each passing day», Ogata said. «The city sewage system has broken down and rubbish is piling up in the streets. Many people are already using contaminated water». «For more than a year now UNHCR and its partners have struggled against all odds to help the people of Sarajevo stay alive», Ogata said. «I condemn the actions of those who are blocking the delivery of food, medicine, fuel, water, power, gas, and other humanitarian assistance in a cowardly attempt to starve and kill innocent victims». *2859
Another UNHCR official said that the Bosnian Serb forces blocked some 75 tons of diesel fuel for the water pumps at the Sarajevo airport, demanding to keep half for themselves before allowing the rest to reach the city. *2860
The peace conference co-chairmen met with President Tudjman in Zagreb. They also hosted a meeting of the BiH Presidency in Zagreb. *2869
Sarajevo residents began to make a black joke of the term «safe area». This week a placard was seen with the words «Sigurnosna Zona», meaning safe area, on a fence outside one of the impromptu graveyards that had sprung up in the city. *2870
Members of the collective BiH leadership continued their meeting with Lord David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg in Zagreb to discuss the latest proposed peace plan. *2871
BiH President Alija Izetbegovic and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic signed an agreement restoring water and utilities. The agreement was negotiated by Bernard Kouchner, France's former health minister. The agreement, signed by Izetbegovic and Karadzic, pledged not to use utilities as «weapons of war» by cutting off flows of water, natural gas and electricity. In the document, the two leaders also undertook to halt interference by their forces with repair missions undertaken by the United Nations military force, who had suspended such work 10 days before because of attacks on repair crews. Kouchner said that Izetbegovic agreed in principle to attend peace talks in Geneva if utilities were restored and if the warring parties ceased offensive action during the talks. *2878
It was reported that although Serbian forces, not BiH forces, had cut most of the utility supplies during the siege, the utilities crisis was a result of a complex standoff in which the BiH Government had refused to allow the repair of a power line which supplied a Serbian ammunition plant at Vogosca, about four miles north-east of the city centre. In retaliation, the Serbian forces cut the only power line feeding Sarajevo, as well as the flow of natural gas. *2879
UNHCR reported that the last major source of drinking water in Sarajevo had been cut because of a lack of fuel for a pump. The acute water shortage raised concerns that disease could spread. UNHCR reported 200 to 300 cases of dysentery daily due to residents using dirty groundwater. Kessler said that the pump serving a well at the city brewery stopped operating Sunday because of a Serb blockade of fuel. It was reported that a «trickle» of water was still reaching the city on one line, providing about a pint per resident each day. *2880
Nicolas Studer, the head engineer for UNPROFOR in Sarajevo said that electricity and water could be restored in Sarajevo by the week's end if the warring factions respected an agreement signed by Muslim and Serb leaders. «If everything goes well», things could return to normal by the end of the week, Studer said. He said that the initial phase of the repairs would require transferring electricity from the Kakanj power plant, located in a Muslim-held region 30 miles from Sarajevo, to the Blazuj power plant supplying Serb-held areas west of Sarajevo. Studer said a second phase of repairs would entail restoring electricity to all of Sarajevo and, to appease the Serbs, repairing power lines within Serbia proper, which would enable them to resume production at a weapons factory making mortar and artillery shells. Studer said that the second phase had not yet been approved by Muslim and Serb leaders. The UN also asked for safety guarantees to protect its repair teams. *2883
The Bosnian Serb military command blamed the BiH army for Monday's mortar attack that killed at least 15 civilians who were waiting for water in Dobrinja. «The mortar shell that killed the civilians was fired by the Muslim troops stationed on the mountain of Igman», the Serbian command said in a public statement, accusing the Muslims of killing their own people and laying the blame on the Serbs in order to gain international sympathy. *2884
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadaka Ogato, arrived in Sarajevo on an emergency visit to assess immediate needs for international financial support. She vowed to do her best to help 2.2 million displaced people. She offered no remedy for the problems but said that going in with UN guns blazing would only backfire. «The whole situation is moving into a downward spiral. Oh, the temptation is there [to blast our way past roadblocks], but what happens afterward?» she said. *2887
UN officials said that running water was restored to a third of Sarajevo, but Serbs failed to switch on a natural gas line as promised. Sarajevo had been cut off of its tap water and electricity since 21 June. Utility engineers with UNPROFOR said that running water was restored to New Sarajevo in the western part of the city. Supplies resumed after the Serbs reactivated a major pumping station in a western suburb they controlled, said Major Nicholas Studer, chief of UNPROFOR's combat engineers. «The Serbs have respected only part of the first phase of the agreement. I don't know if they are playing games, but they have cited technical problems and declared that they intend to solve them», Studer said. *2888
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic rejected an offer by Islamic countries to send 17,000 soldiers to join the UN peace- keeping force in BiH. «The government resolutely opposes the proposed deployment of further Muslim forces to this country as projected recently by the Islamic Countries», Karadzic said in a letter to U.N Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali. *2893
A day after the visit by Sadako Ogata, Bosnian Serbs allowed 75 tons of diesel fuel stuck at the airport for two weeks to be brought into Sarajevo. The Serb forces reportedly confiscated an additional 25 tons of the diesel fuel for themselves. The first stops were the city bakery, a main water- pumping station and the hospital which needed the fuel to run generators. The bakery was making bread within two hours of the delivery after a 15 day shutdown, the longest in its 40 year history. Restoration of natural gas service, reportedly cut by Serb forces last month was also considered a major breakthrough, allowing residents to cook normally for the first time in weeks. *2894
More than half of the city was still reportedly without running water and electricity. *2895
The BiH collective Presidency convened in Sarajevo to work out final details in a proposal for the future of BiH that was expected to be debated at a new round of Geneva talks next week. At their preparatory session, BiH leaders were scheduled to discuss two options: a federation made up of either 10 units or three units. Under the latter scheme, each of the three regional units would be further divided into three provinces. None of the provinces would be geographically contiguous in order to discourage ethnic communities from adopting separatist policies. *2896
A new round of talks aimed at ending the war in BiH was announced. Presidents Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Franjo Tudjman of Croatia were expected to meet under UN auspices in Geneva Saturday in a new bid to end the war, Tudjman's office said. Belgrade's Tanjug news agency said that Tudjman and Milosevic would discuss resolving the BiH crisis «on the basis of a confederal organization of Bosnia». The BiH Presidency under Alija Izetbegovic, had rejected confederation into three ethnic mini-states, although it had backed a plan to establish BiH as a federal state along economic lines. *2897
The 10 member BiH Presidency at its meeting in Sarajevo announced it «agreed in principle» to take part in the next round of peace talks in Geneva scheduled for next week, Sarajevo radio reported. The Presidency conditioned its participation on the cessation of the Serbian offensives in BiH and restoring electricity and the restorations of water supplies to the city. *2900
In Geneva, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman held closed door talks with mediators Thorvald Stoltenberg and Lord Owen. Diplomats said the session was aimed at pushing BiH toward accepting a plan turning the state into a confederation of three ethnic republics. Stoltenberg told reporters that the atmosphere had improved and that it might be possible to achieve a peaceful solution in the next two to six weeks. «The point is to get started», he said. Conference spokesman John Mills said the aim of the talks was to prepare for a meeting of all three parties in the conflict. *2901
UNPROFOR announced that it's probe into Monday's shelling of Sarajevo residents queuing for water revealed that the mortar round in the incident had almost certainly been fired by Serb artillery. *2902
Moves to protect UN troops guarding Muslim enclaves in BiH were stepped up when the United States said it would send 40 warplanes, including four Special Forces AC-130 gunships to Europe. The Pentagon announcement followed an agreement by NATO on Wednesday that US, French, British and Dutch warplanes could start protecting UN ground troops in BiH, including those in the planned «safe areas», as early as 22 July. Radovan Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian Serbs, warned against sending NATO aircraft. Such actions would be «packed with possibilities for new incidents and an escalation of the conflict», he told the Yugoslav news agency, Tanjug. *2903
The BiH collective Presidency at a meeting decided to remove the Commander of the Army's 1st Corps, Mustafa Hajrulahovic, and replaced him with Vahid Karavelic. The 1st Corps was assigned to the defence of Sarajevo. Commentators said the dismissal of Hajrulahovic might have reflected dismay over recent military successes by Serb forces who captured the town of Trnovo, south of Sarajevo and had since closed in on Igman. *2912
UNPROFOR reported that electricity repairs were canceled due to the absence of Serbian workers. *2913
BiH President Alija Izetbegovic ruled out attending renewed peace talks with international mediators in Geneva unless Serb forces stopped offensives against Muslims. «We cannot go there if offensive activities in Bosnia continue, especially against Sarajevo», he said. «Under current conditions, I don't see that we could be ready to go today or tomorrow but, if we found ourselves at the negotiating table, I'm convinced we might reach a settlement». *2914
A UN official said that Sarajevo was still without electricity and water as utility repair efforts were being hampered by workers who refused to show up. *2919
BiH President Alija Izetbegovic appealed for international help in a letter to UN Secretary-General Boutros- Ghali and other officials. «There are signs that the Serbian forces plan a general attack on the town itself», said Izetbegovic, «I call on you to intervene and stop this act of aggression», he said. Commentators suggested that the Serbian offensive seemed to be designed to increase pressure on BiH to accept ethnic partitioning. *2923
It was reported that the 2,000 UN peace-keeping forces in the designated «safe area» of Sarajevo had been unable to do much but stand by as the Serbian forces advanced. The UN troops were not able to approach the battlefield on Mount Igman to observe the fighting or to resist it. *2925
United States Secretary of State Warren Christopher ruled out US military action or other direct intervention to prevent Serbian forces from capturing Sarajevo. In turning down appeals for outside help from BiH, Christopher called the crisis a «tragic, tragic situation». But he said at a news conference that deeper American involvement in the Balkans was not in the US national interest. He defined the US national interest in BiH as limited to «humanitarian relief to the extent that we can provide it, coupled with the spread of the conflict, doing all we can to make sure that those who are involved in the evil conduct there realize that they will be subject to, as people, war crimes trials, and as nations, to continuing sanctions». Commentators noted that these remarks may have removed any fears that Serb and Croat leaders had about whether taking Sarajevo or other UN- declared «safe areas» would draw military retaliation from the US. *2926
It was reported that President Clinton's top foreign policy advisers Christopher, Defense Secretary Les Aspin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, and National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, met Tuesday for a second time in a week to discuss the deteriorating situation around Sarajevo. But they reportedly broke up their meeting, unable to agree on new actions. As Serb forces advanced Wednesday against government troops on Mount Igman, the strategic high ground and a key supply route for the capital, Clinton reportedly blamed European governments for the impending defeat of the BiH government. Clinton said that the European opposition to his proposal to lift the UN arms embargo for the BiH government doomed what appeared to be a moment when Serb and Croatian leaders might have been willing to settle the conflict through negotiations. «That's when things began to deteriorate again instead of move toward peace», he said during an appearance Tuesday night on CNN's «Larry King Live». *2927
It was reported that the United States had moved 40 warplanes to bases in Italy to join British, French and Dutch aeroplanes (possibly beginning Thursday), in providing air cover and rescue missions for UN peacekeepers coming under fire. That operation came under NATO auspices. *2928
It was reported that UN officials expressed hope that the Serbs would honour a promise to suspend their offensive on Mount Igman if peace talks started Friday in Geneva. *2929
In Washington, President Clinton rejected suggestions that the US had given up on helping bring peace to BiH, saying the administration was continuing to work on the problem with European allies. A day earlier, Secretary of State Warren Christopher said that the administration had ruled out military intervention or any other forceful strategy to rescue Sarajevo and prevent partition of BiH. Clinton, when asked if that meant he had given up on BiH, said, «that's not so . . . We have aggressively committed ourselves to the process in Geneva, and if the BiH government voluntarily signs an agreement, we have made it clear that we were prepared to participate in the enforcement of it». «We are continuing to work with the Europeans on other options», Clinton said. «That is not true that we've given up on it. We're continuing to work». *2936
Plans for new peace talks stumbled after Serbs hit Sarajevo with one of the heaviest bombardments in weeks. The Geneva talks were scheduled to focus on competing peace plans: a Serb-Croatian plan to partition BiH into three ethnic states and a plan by the BiH government to keep the Republic together. Citing the plight of BiH civilians, mediators Lord Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg had urged the parties to «sit in continuous session until a settlement is reached». *2937
BiH President Alija Izetbegovic reiterated his earlier position that he would not attend peace talks while fighting continued. «Unfortunately, up to this moment, there are no signs that attacks are diminishing», he said in a letter to Owen and Stoltenberg. *2938
The UN Security Council condemned the Serb assault on Sarajevo and demanded an end to the siege, calling for safe passage of food and medicine. The Council demanded no military action. *2939
In Belgrade, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said that peace talks should be postponed for months because negotiating would be pointless. «Why should we negotiate with the Muslims at all?» Karadzic said. «They are militarily defeated, and we have no urgency to negotiate with them». The latest peace negotiations due to begin Friday in Geneva, were postponed two days by the shelling in Sarajevo. International negotiators Lord Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg urged all sides «to exercise restraint and create suitable conditions for talks». *2942
The new UN commander in BiH, Lieutenant General Francis Briquemont of Belgium told a news conference that all shelling in the Sarajevo region would be halted at 10:00 a.m. Sunday as part of a BiH-wide agreement, which was to coincide with the reopening of peace talks in Geneva on Sunday. The talks had since been deferred until Tuesday. BiH President Alija Izetbegovic demanded that attacks on many of the remaining Muslim population centres in BiH, including Sarajevo, Maglaj, and Mostar, be halted before the BiH government would attend the talks. He also stipulated that Serbian and Croatian forces should halt their attempts to delay and block UN relief convoys. *2945
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said that BiH President Alija Izetbegovic must accept the partition of BiH into three ethnic states or Serb forces would settle the question on the battlefield. *2946
UNPROFOR reported that two UNPROFOR and 15 UNHCR flights landed at the airport. *2947
Early in the day, an accord to halt military offensives by the warring factions in BiH had taken effect. All three warring factions claimed that the others had broken the agreement. The UNPROFOR commander for BiH, Lieutenant General Francis Briquemont of Belgium announced the no-offensive accord Saturday after meeting with officials of the warring parties. *2950
BiH President Alija Izetbegovic said that he would attend the peace talks scheduled to start on Tuesday in Geneva if the no-offensive accord held. The talks had been postponed twice because of fighting. Izetbegovic said that the United Nations had done almost nothing to implement its «safe areas» scheme for the country's Muslims and called for tougher action by the Security Council. Sarajevo radio said that Izetbegovic laid out his objections in a letter to the Council and to UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali. *2951
In Sarajevo, UN commanders warned Serbs who attacked a UN base Sunday that they faced immediate retaliation if they did it again. Lieutenant General Francis Briquemont, UN commander for BiH, said: «I am angry at this betrayal. I have told my commanders they must reply immediately, within the next few seconds». If attacked again, he said, «they must fire against the adversary». French General Jean Cot, commander for all forces in the former Yugoslavia, said the peacekeepers were surprised by the attack as they set up a position in Sarajevo, and had not unpacked weapons, apparently including anti-tank weapons. *2953
The BiH government said it would not go to the negotiating table in Geneva until the attacks on Sarajevo had abated. But UN observers reported that Sarajevo was quiet on Monday, and the lull in the fighting appeared to be holding reasonably elsewhere. It was reported that BiH government military setbacks, a tightening blockade of government-controlled areas and divisions in the BiH leadership appeared to have softened Izetbegovic's resistance to the plan. «We're leaving with hope and fear but with a strong determination to find an escape from the cycle of killing and suffering», Izetbegovic said upon leaving Sarajevo Monday. «If there is a way out, this delegation will find it». On Monday night he held a first meeting with Lord David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg, chairmen of the international mediation effort. The new talks were scheduled to begin formally on Tuesday. *2954
It was reported that Sarajevo remained without basic utility services. The UN stated that it had not received clearance to carry out repairs on the Serb side. *2964 UNPROFOR reported that four UNPROFOR and 17 UNHCR flights landed at the airport. *2965
In Geneva, leaders of all three warring factions held a rare joint meeting. The 90 minute meeting brought BiH President Alija Izetbegovic together with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Bosnian Croatian leader Mate Boban. Karadzic, who had insisted that BiH accept an ethnic partition of the Republic warned: «This is the last chance for an honest peace». Later he said that discussions were going in the «right direction», despite his «basic pessimism». Izetbegovic announced «some progress» in the talks. His government still wanted some kind of federation and feared that Serb and Croatian areas would join with neighbouring Serbia and Croatia, leaving Muslims with small land-locked pockets. *2966
France made a formal request to the UN and NATO for swift action to provide air cover for UN troops after Serb gunners shelled a French engineering unit in Sarajevo Sunday. *2967
After French UN forces had come under fire from Serbs battling for control of Sarajevo, the UN announced that it was ready to accept its commitment from NATO to use air support to protect troops assigned to defend six «safe zones». UN Secretary- General Boutros-Ghali said that NATO would be ready to supply the air cover early next week when ground observers and other support personnel were in place. Boutros-Ghali said that the air cover would begin, «Monday, Tuesday». United States President Clinton stated: «The United States is bound, we are committed, to come to the aid of the United Nations forces, as a part of NATO, if they are attacked. And they have been». «All this will unfold over the next few days, during which time the Serbs, the Bosnian Serbs, either will or won't stop shelling Sarajevo and will pull back. We'll just have to wait and see what happens», the President said. *2970
While the UN and NATO worked on military plans, the peace talks in Geneva were reported to have taken a positive turn when leaders of the three warring factions met without mediators for the first time. *2971
In its monthly engineering report UNPROFOR addressed the worsening utilities situation in the city. UNPROFOR commented that electricity was and would remain the key to all utilities problems inside the sector (due to its connection to all other utilities). UNPROFOR stated that Serb forces had denied all access to the repair location on the line which was supplying the town (Reljovo/Vogosca) and that fighting and shelling had provoked cuts and damages in the northern area of Sarajevo. UNPROFOR also commented that only five of the 15 scheduled electricity repair missions were successful during the month. UNPROFOR stated that water supplies had improved in parts of the city (notably the west part which was supplied through the reservoir of Mojmilo starting on 13 July). Gas supplies remained turned off. *2974
In Geneva, BiH President Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Bosnian Croat chief Mate Boban agreed to cease hostilities and ordered their forces to implement the truce accord immediately. *2975 Geneva Conference sources reportedly said that Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was offering the Muslims about a quarter of BiH territory, an area around Sarajevo and a pocket in the north-west. *2976
The BiH leadership's international legal adviser, Francis Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law, filed a petition in the Hague asking it to prevent the dissolution of BiH as a member of the UN, which he said would follow the acceptance of a peace plan. *2977
After an hour-long meeting with Defense Secretary Les Aspin, French Defence Minister Franois Leotard told reporters at the Pentagon that the western allies would not tolerate any further attacks on UN troops in BiH and were prepared to launch air strikes if they continued. *2978
Seven war wounded from Sarajevo, six of them children, were reportedly being flown to Italy by the UN, according to UN officials. *2979
In BiH, the commanders of the warring factions signed an immediate cease-fire for all of BiH. The agreement permitted for the free movement of relief convoys. *2983
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who initially accused Muslim forces of staging the attack on French UN soldiers on Sunday, reportedly said that Serb gunners may have fired at the French by mistake. Karadzic said that those suspected to be responsible for the attack were being arrested. *2984
In Geneva, BiH President Izetbegovic reached an agreement with leaders of Bosnian Serbs and Croats. The agreement covered only the broad constitutional arrangements that would govern a new tripartite federation but constitutional principles had not been a stumbling block in previous negotiations. Before finalizing a peace plan the parties still had to finalize another accord fixing the precise frontiers of the three new republics, therefore deciding how much territory each faction would control. Radovan Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian Serbs expressed optimism stating: «Only a few spots on the map remain in dispute, and these should be resolved this weekend». President Franjo Tudjman of Croatia was similarly optimistic, predicting that a final peace agreement would be signed by all the faction leaders by Sunday or Monday. He said later on Sarajevo radio, «The hardest part of the job still remains. Everything will be worthless if there is no agreement on the maps». Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic described the accord as «the biggest step toward peace we have ever made since the beginning of the war». *2985
The document agreed upon provided for a weak central government having no police force or army of its own and would take responsibility for little more than the management of foreign policy and trade. All remaining powers would be vested in the governments of the three republics. *2986
Despite the agreement in Geneva, US officials in Washington said that they were pressing ahead with their efforts to develop a plan for air strikes. The officials said that there was a broad agreement within the US government that Washington should be prepared to use air power to protect UN peacekeepers, ensure the delivery of food and other aid and prevent the fall of Sarajevo and other key Muslim enclaves. *2987
UN officials in New York said that one Spanish soldier attached to the UN peace-keeping operation in BiH was killed and 17 wounded when two mortar rounds hit their headquarters in the town of Jablanica. A spokesman for Secretary-General Boutros- Ghali said the incident could be the «trigger» for NATO air strikes, once it became clear who carried out the attack. *2988 The UN Security Council called for nations to prepare to use air strikes in BiH in response to the attack. *2989
BiH political and military leadership remained divided over the peace agreement reached on Friday. «The text was not signed», Miro Lazovic, the speaker of the BiH parliament and a member of the presidency said of the agreement. «We only accepted it as a basis for further talks». Lazovic's explanation underscored the deepening confusion in Geneva about the real willingness of the BiH leadership to accept the division of BiH along ethnic lines. Lazovic also had his doubts about the willingness of the BiH army to go along with the plan. Lazovic said that only the three Croatian members of the 10 member BiH Presidency, together with Fikret Abdic, the leader of the Bihac Muslims in north-western BiH and «maybe President Alija Izetbegovic . . . believe we should go with the new agreement». Izetbegovic and Abdic were the only two members of the Presidency at the meeting during which the constitutional pact was apparently accepted. *2992
The leaders of the BiH and Serbian factions spent the day trying to resolve issues concerning the boundaries of the ethnic republics that would be established under the plan. *2993
The peace conference co-chairmen held bilateral talks with Izetbegovic and Karadzic, and Boban and Karadzic. The day ended with a trilateral meeting with Izetbegovic, Karadzic and Boban. *2994
The United States began meetings with France and Britain to discuss the possibility of bombing targets threatening Sarajevo. There was reportedly a building consensus that about 60 warplanes already stationed in the region (30 of them American) would provide air cover for the UN forces protecting relief convoys and six civilian «safe zones» including Sarajevo. Officials in Washington said that the NATO council would meet Monday to discuss the use of air power in BiH. Sarajevo is «very important symbolically» to the Muslims said Madeline Albright, US ambassador to the UN. «Everybody that watches what's going on in Sarajevo believes that more has to be done to alleviate the suffering there». Commentators suggested that even if the West did not initiate its threatened bomb runs, the current threats were viewed as a useful tool, keeping negotiators at the bargaining table in Geneva, discouraging the Serbs from making a final push for Sarajevo and serving notice that a peace enforced by the UN troops would have some force behind it. *2995
High-ranking BiH, Serb and Croat officers held talks at the Butmir airport outside Sarajevo on the cease-fire accord signed Friday, which none of the three factions had respected. *3002 A UN military spokesman said the talks had covered freedom of movement for UN military observers to monitor the truce. *3003
In Geneva, the peace conference co-chairmen met with BiH opposition leaders. After separate talks with Karadzic and Boban, a further trilateral meeting was held with Izetbegovic and the Bosnian Serb and Croat leadership. *3004
In Geneva, BiH President Alija Izetbegovic said that he would pull out of peace talks unless Serbs halted attacks around Sarajevo and Brcko in the north. *3005 Sources close to the peace talks said that major territorial issues remained unresolved. *3006
The Washington Post reported that the US would bring a proposal for military intervention in BiH to a NATO meeting Monday in Brussels. *3007 The decision to present the plan was made at a meeting Saturday attended by President Clinton, Secretary of State Christopher, Defense Secretary Aspin, National Security Advisor Lake and General Powell, the armed forces Chief of General Staff. *3008 Vice President Gore refused to discuss the possible use of air power, but said «there is movement» among US allies toward agreement on what to do. *3009
In Madrid, Spanish Defence Minister Julian Garcia Vargas said he would support selective air strikes in BiH to protect civilians, UN peace-keeping troops and, in particular, the city of Sarajevo. *3010 In an interview with the state news agency Efe, he stated that: «The international community has acted so far with caution and what is now needed is firm action». *3011
The commander of the Bosnian Serb air force, General Zivomir Ninkovic, told Belgrade radio that Serb forces would respond «by all available means» to any Western attack on their positions. *3015
It was reported that 15 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3016
The latest round of peace talks was postponed in Geneva at the request of BiH President Alija Izetbegovic. Conference sources said that the BiH leadership was seeking time in light of US proposals to use military force against Bosnian Serb positions. BiH Foreign Minister Haris Silajdzic described Serb attacks around Sarajevo as «breaking of good faith». Silajdzic reportedly said, «The condition for successful negotiations was to restore electricity, water and gas to Sarajevo». Division of the map of BiH continued to be the «thorniest issue» at the talks, according to conference spokesman John Mills. *3017
In Brussels, Senior NATO officials met for 12 hours to discuss a US plan for air strikes against Serb positions, in particular around Sarajevo. *3018 Diplomats at NATO headquarters said final decisions on when and where to use air power rested with UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali. *3019 They said in a communique that the alliance would make preparations to take «stronger measures including air strikes» if the strangulation of Sarajevo continued. *3020 No immediate air strikes were ordered. NATO sources said that members of the alliance with troops in BiH were concerned that those troops could be endangered by air strikes and the retaliation which could follow air strikes. Meanwhile, in Washington, President Clinton told reporters, «I don't believe that the allies will permit Sarajevo to either fall or starve». *3021
Mediators David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg reportedly registered their opposition to air strikes, on the grounds that it would hurt the peace process. *3022
Several high-ranking members of the mainly European UN force stationed in Sarajevo said that they were opposed to the US proposal to launch air strikes against Serb positions besieging Sarajevo. One high-ranking European officer reportedly said, «In BiH alone, there are thousands of UN soldiers and relief workers whom it would be impossible to protect from becoming targets and hostages once the first bomb is dropped». Barry Frewer, UNPROFOR spokesman, said that UN troops were awaiting orders on the matter. *3023
In Geneva, the three Croatian members of the collective BiH Presidency, Mile Akmadzic, Franjo Boras and Miro Lasic, said they were not walking out, but were boycotting the talks as long as Muslims continue to attack Bosnian Croats. They refused to recognize BiH President Alija Izetbegovic as representing the collective presidency. Izetbegovic shunned the talks because of the continued Bosnian Serb siege of Sarajevo. *3026 Mediators called the presidents of Serbia and Croatia back to Geneva in an effort to get the three warring factions to resume negotiations. Momir Bulatovic, the president of Montenegro, also flew back to Geneva. *3027 John Mills, spokesman for the mediators, said that the scheduled meeting did not take place. Mills said, «Directives from the leaders to military commanders have resulted in a very significant reduction in the intensity of fighting». He looked forward to the installation of UN military observers on hills around Sarajevo. *3028
US officials welcomed the support of European allies for air strikes. President Clinton said that the allies delivered the message that they were «determined to protect UN forces [in BiH], determined to secure the humanitarian relief program». According to the Washington Post, a US official said that «speculations about [air strikes] over the last few days may have encouraged Serb flexibility» at the bargaining table in Geneva. *3029 Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said that Western threats could adversely affect peace talks by encouraging the Muslims to hold out for military intervention. *3030 Lord Owen said that he was satisfied with the NATO alliance's threat to conduct air strikes against Serbian forces in BiH. Officials close to Lord Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg said they believed that NATO had signaled to the BiH Government that the US would not intervene on its own against the Serbs, and that the Muslims should return to the talks. *3031
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said his troops were ready to hand over to UN peacekeepers the key hills near Sarajevo. According to Karadzic, the UN had already taken over part of Mount Igman and was flying its flag there. Karadzic said that the Serb advance in the Igman area was not a Serb offensive, but rather served to protect Serb-populated parts of Sarajevo from Muslim bombardment. *3033
British Brigadier General Hayes, Chief of Staff of UN forces in BiH, told reporters in the BiH capital that the BiH army bore the main blame for blocking relief supplies to Sarajevo. He said the current Serb assault on Mount Igman was strangling only the BiH military supply line into Sarajevo. *3034
It was reported that 15 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3035
In Geneva, Lord Owen said that the air raids proposed by the Clinton administration were inadequate. «The only military solution is if you're prepared to put ground troops in and take it seriously», he said. He appealed to the international community to give peace efforts a chance before ordering airstrikes. Later, Serbian and Croatian leaders quit the peace talks and headed home, promising to return Friday if President Izetbegovic agreed to rejoin negotiations. *3036
In Washington, the State Department's chief expert on BiH, Marshal Freeman Harris, resigned, charging that the Clinton administration was putting undue pressure on the BiH government to agree to the partition of the country. In a letter to Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Harris said the US push for airstrikes was too little, came too late and represented an abandonment of the stance that BiH should be preserved as an independent state. *3037 He wrote, «I can no longer serve in a Department of State that accepts the forceful dismemberment of a European state and that will not act against genocide and the Serbian officials who perpetrate it». He wrote that in pressuring BiH to agree to a partition, the Clinton administration was «driving the BiH Government to surrender its territory and its sovereignty to the victors in a war of aggression». *3038
According to Bosnian Serb leader Nikola Koljevic, UN peacekeepers would replace Serb forces on Mount Igman on Friday. Lord David Owen and Thorwald Stoltenberg confirmed that Bosnian Serbs had agreed to cede Mount Igman to UN troops, and to instruct their military commanders to negotiate the opening of roads leading to Sarajevo to all except military vehicles. *3044 The agreement was reached in Pale, where Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic met with an UNPROFOR delegation led by General Francis Briquemont, head of UN forces in BiH. Karadzic read a joint statement, which said he had agreed to withdraw forces from Mount Igman, to allow UNPROFOR to occupy the area and to reopen two access roads to and from the capital to UNPROFOR, UNHCR, civil and commercial vehicles. The opening of the roads would be discussed Friday. *3045
The withdrawal from Mount Igman was the condition set by BiH President Alija Izetbegovic for the resumption of the international peace talks in Geneva. *3046 Talks in Geneva were suspended until Monday, according to UN spokesman John Mills. *3047
A meeting was scheduled for Friday to discuss supplying Sarajevo with electricity, gas and water. *3048
It was reported that 16 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3049
According to a Sarajevo radio report, UNPROFOR officials in Sarajevo said that clashes around Gornji Vakuf had blocked for the past week a number of humanitarian relief convoys bringing food and medicine to Sarajevo. *3050
The BiH Presidency resumed talks with the peace conference co- chairmen. *3051
Paddy Ashdown, the leader of Britain's Liberal- Democratic Party, told BBC television that he had suggested to the Serbs that there be «an area of no-go around Sarajevo--and that after a certain deadline any heavy weapons seen in that area would be subject to air attack». According to Ashdown, the Serbs agreed to this proposal. Ashdown said that with winter approaching, the West had «somewhere between six and eight weeks to save the city, to lift the blockade and to get supplies through». *3052
In Amman, US Secretary of State Christopher said he would fly to Italy Friday for NATO talks on possible air strikes against the Serbs. Meanwhile, an association of 51 Islamic countries called to Geneva for rapid implementation of NATO proposals for air strikes. *3053
Bosnian Serb Commander General Ratko Mladic said he was reluctant to fulfill his promise to withdraw troops from Mounts Igman and Bjelasnica. Mladic told Dnevnik, the government-run Serbian newspaper, that Serbian troops would not withdraw until politicians agreed on ending the war. Sarajevo radio reported that Serbian forces had reinforced troops on Mount Igman. *3054
It was reported that 14 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3055
In Pale, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic told Reuters Television that he had set as a condition for the withdrawal of troops from Mounts Igman and Bjelasnica that the UN install troops sufficient not only to observe but to take over the area. *3060
It was reported that 17 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3061
BiH President Alija Izetbegovic called for a meeting of the UN Security Council to confirm the primacy of principles laid down at the 1992 London conference on the former Yugoslavia. In a letter to Council President Madeleine Albright of the US, he said current negotiations in Geneva «sanction genocide and reward aggression while making Bosnia the victim forced to accept humiliating terms in order to establish peace». This referred particularly to the future of Sarajevo, «which is to be divided, isolated and sentenced to a slow annihilation», he said. *3062
US officials said that it agreed not to bomb any target in the former Yugoslavia without the approval of UN ground commanders. *3063
Bosnian Croat representatives reportedly rejected the proposal made by Alija Izetbegovic in Geneva last week, to join forces with Muslims to form a joint Muslim-Croatian state in BiH. «Our experience tells us that any agreement with Muslims would only cause damage to Croats», said Miro Lasic, one of three Croat members of the BiH collective presidency. «Too much blood of Croatian civilians was spilled by Izetbegovic's forces», Lasic said in an interview with Zagreb government-controlled radio. *3065
Dr. Edin Jaganac, a French military doctor sent by UNPROFOR, *3066 was frustrated in repeated efforts to evacuate a five year-old girl from Sarajevo. The girl, Irma Hadzimuratovic, was wounded 10 days ago when Serbian mortar fire hit a street near Irma's home, killing two people, including Irma's mother, and wounding 12 children. A committee of four foreign doctors was required to approve every evacuation aboard a UN aeroplane. Two of the four committee members were based outside BiH, had no plans to meet, and there were no emergency provisions for such a situation. *3067 According to one report, a further obstacle to flying the child out of Sarajevo was that the agreement which opened the airport for international aid airlifts required the Bosnian Serbs to have up to three days' notice of UN flight schedules. *3068 Those responsible for the 20 UN aircraft which left Sarajevo each day refused to transport the girl. *3069 One report stated that the UN, while unable to evacuate the child, had allowed local employees of the UN headquarters in Sarajevo to leave on short notice. *3070 «If she stays in this hospital, she will die, that is certain», said Dr. Jaganac, referring to adverse hospital conditions, including a lack of main electricity and the impossibility of conducting extensive blood tests. Dr. Jaganac said, «We would not be asking the United Nations to evacuate a patient that we thought would die anyway». *3071
It was reported that 16 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3072
Five year-old Irma Hadzimuratovic was flown out of BiH after the British government provided an aircraft for her evacuation. British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd told the BBC that a Royal Air Force Hercules aeroplane, usually used to shuttle relief supplies, carried the girl to Ancona on the Adriatic coast of Italy where she was transported on an air ambulance to Britain. *3085
BiH President Alija Izetbegovic, in Geneva, said that negotiations would resume Tuesday if the Serbs withdrew from the hills surrounding Sarajevo. *3086 Radovan Karadzic reportedly told the BBC, «Step by step, we are withdrawing from [Mount Bjelasnica and Mount Igman], replacing our forces with the forces of UN» Karadzic reportedly said that the shelling of Sarajevo would cease. *3087
NATO leaders approved a joint plan for possible air strikes on Bosnian Serbs to break the siege of Sarajevo, but deferred the prospect of an immediate attack and gave the UN Secretary General an effective veto on such military action. The ambassadors of the 16 NATO nations said in a communique that they had endorsed a list of options drawn up by the alliance's military committee over the past week. According to a NATO official, the list specified types of targets--such as heavy artillery pieces, supply and transport links, and command centres- -but not specific ones. The leaders made clear that the choices they endorsed were in support of humanitarian relief efforts, rather than any of the warring parties. Any military action would be determined jointly by NATO and the UN. Leaders said they were ready to convene at short notice to decide whether to implement air strikes if the strangulation of Sarajevo continued and UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali asked NATO to act. A senior US official said the alliance would be prepared to bomb within one to two days. *3088 NATO Secretary-General Manfred Woerner said the necessary precautions had been taken to ensure the safety of UN troops in BiH against Serb retaliation following NATO air attacks. *3089
According to the New York Times, anonymous UN sources said that Serbian commanders appeared to have decided that NATO had attached such stringent conditions to planning for air strikes that the threat of bombing was far less than Serbian commanders had previously feared. In deciding whether to withdraw from the heights around Sarajevo, UN sources said, the Serbs seemed to have followed closely negotiations between the US and NATO allies on terms for bombing attacks. *3093
General Mladic, Commander of Bosnian Serb forces, met through the day and into the night at Butmir airport with UN commander Francis Briquemont, who sought a broader agreement which would commit the Serbian forces to lift the siege of Sarajevo. *3094
As Irma Hadzimuratovic, the five year-old girl injured by mortar fire and evacuated from Sarajevo underwent emergency surgery in London, a spokesman for the BiH Government information centre in London spoke bitterly of the effort required to evacuate one girl from a city where three children died daily as a result of the lack of fuel, electricity and medicine in the hospitals. *3095 Reportedly, 40 critically wounded people, including 11 year-old Edhem Dedovic who had lost an eye, waited on a UN evacuation list for a country and a hospital to offer treatment impossible in Sarajevo. *3096 UNHCR officer Tony Land in Sarajevo called for more offers to enable evacuations. «The bed is no good unless there is someone to meet the expense», he was reported to have said. UNHCR Sarajevo spokesman Peter Kessler said that the US had taken 19 cases, but were only convinced after great persuasion to take seriously-injured patients. *3097
In Geneva, peace negotiations were canceled when President Izetbegovic failed to attend. The Belgrade-based Tanjug news agency reported that Izetbegovic met privately with peace negotiators Stoltenberg and Owen after appearing late in the afternoon at the Palace of Nations. Peace conference spokesman John Mills told reporters that Stoltenberg and Owen had earlier called in Karadzic and his Bosnian Serb delegation to demand the evacuation of Mount Igman. Mills said that Karadzic, in the presence of the co-chairmen, telephoned General Ratko Mladic, commander of the Bosnian Serb forces. *3098
UNPROFOR spokesman Frewer said that NATO had not decided on immediate bombing attacks aimed at strongholds around Sarajevo. «Right now we don't see any indication that we would need the use of air power», he said. According to the New York Times, UN commanders' opposition to airstrikes stemmed from a belief that it was safer and in the long run more effective to placate the Serbian forces than to confront them. *3099
The Irish government said it would provide emergency orthopedic surgery for five BiH children and accept a group of 200 refugees, most of them relatives of members of a similar group allowed to settle in Ireland last year. *3100
Relief officials said that the Croatian nationalist army, not the Serbian forces, were the main problem for relief efforts because of obstacles to truck movement through central BiH. More than half of all UN aid had to pass through that region on its way to Sarajevo, Zenica and Tuzla. Anthony C. Land, head of UN relief operations in Sarajevo, said that Croatian forces required separate permits for every relief truck and imposed 72 hour delays on convoys moving into BiH from the main UN depot at Metkovic, Croatia. Also, by refusing to allow passage through a main artery, Croats had added days to delivery times by forcing aid convoys to make a 140 mile detour over unpaved mountain roads. According to Land, UN trucks were delivering only a quarter of the food possible because of delays. *3102
The British and Swedish governments said they would evacuate 41 war victims from Sarajevo. Britain would receive 20 of the injured, Sweden 16 and Ireland five. *3103 Spokesman Manuel Almeida of UNHCR in Zagreb said that the breakthrough on evacuating Sarajevans occurred after a private relief agency, the International Organization for Migration, IOM, agreed to help UNHCR process the new offers. *3104 Ramiz Hadzimuratovic, father of the five year-old girl who was injured by mortar fire and was evacuated to England, appealed for the rescue of other wounded children in Sarajevo, describing the city as «a concentration camp». *3105
The United States warned that Bosnian Serbs could face a NATO attack unless they abandoned positions on Mount Bjelasnica and Mount Igman. Secretary of State Christopher made it clear that the allies were determined to use any means to prevent the strangulation of Sarajevo. Administration officials said that the allies would wait to see whether the Serbs came through on a promise to abandon their positions by Thursday. This promise was extracted in Geneva after negotiators warned the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, that the withdrawal from the peaks had to be completed by mid-morning Thursday. According to Clinton Administration officials, the allies would regard the Serbs' failure to withdraw as a grave offence. The State Department had begun to provide the Europeans and the UN with daily reports about Serbian actions in BiH. Some officials acknowledged that the allies had yet to agree on what Serbian action would set off a military response. One senior Administration official who advocated military action said, «The Serbs are brilliant at showing just enough restraint to make it appear that things are getting better». *3106
The official Russian Defence Ministry daily Krasnaya Zvezda commented on NATO plans for air strikes at Bosnian Serbs, saying in part, «the USA. and the North Atlantic bloc put one more obstacle on the road to a political settlement of the Bosnian crisis». *3107
The UN announced that the ground controllers necessary to coordinate air strikes were in place in BiH and that their links to NATO aircraft were being tested. Air attacks under Security Council Resolution 836 or Resolution 770 would require coordination between warplanes and forward air controllers, who would guide the pilots to precise targets. While the US and its allies assembled more than 50 military aircraft to carry out raids, the UN did not begin until late last month to assign air controllers and their laser equipment to BiH. *3108
Bosnian Serb military leaders, Ratko Mladic and Manojlo Milovanovic, said they had not withdrawn completely from Mount Bjelasnica and Mount Igman because the UN was moving too slowly to occupy in strength all the positions they were prepared to vacate. *3115
US State Department spokesman Michael McCurry said the administration was not prepared to convene a meeting of NATO, despite the fact that «Lord Owen and Stoltenberg indicate that they are not satisfied that the type of withdrawal that they had expected to see has occurred». McCurry said that Owen and Stoltenberg's assessment was «consistent with» the State Department's understanding of the situation. One State Department official characterized the Serbs' steps to withdraw from Mount Bjelasnica and Mount Igman as «more bobbing and weaving». A senior Clinton Administration official reportedly said that shelling and sniping persisted despite some evidence of «better behaviour» on the part of the Serbs. *3116
BiH Vice President Ejup Ganic said, in a letter to Security Council President Madeleine Albright, that Serb forces had stationed rockets on Mount Igman. Ganic wrote, «I believe that UNPROFOR knows of this positioning of heavy artillery rockets but is not making the information public». Ganic added that even without shelling, 20 to 30 children and elderly in Sarajevo would die daily of infection and exhaustion. *3117
Bosnian Serb delegation spokesman Jovan Zametica told reporters in Geneva, «As of 8:00 a.m. today, there are no more Serb troops on Mount Igman. They have withdrawn to lines of July 30». *3118 Later, negotiators in Geneva said the Serbs had agreed to binding arbitration on the issue on Friday. *3119
Serb forces allowed a food convoy into Sarajevo through a new route behind their lines. *3121 Sarajevo's main hospital reportedly received five tons of diesel fuel. It was reported that before the arrival of the shipment some patients had provided their own diesel fuel to enable doctors to perform operations. *3122
A Belgian hospital at Huy, south-east of Brussels, offered 20 beds for the care of injured children in Sarajevo. Anne-Marie Lizin, a Belgian lawmaker and mayor of Huy, announced the offer, which included some funds and a chartered aeroplane for transportation. *3123
US Secretary of State Warren Christopher indicated that the Clinton Administration would be satisfied with a partial Serb withdrawal from Mount Bjelasnica and Mount Igman. *3124 Christopher said, «The mountaintops are important but fundamentally what is necessary is food, water, electricity and no more shelling in that area». *3125 According to a State Department official, US policy shifted from an initial, clearly defined threat over withdrawal from the mountains to a broader, more ambiguous warning on ending the lengthy siege. The official indicated that the overall objective of the US was «to improve the condition of the people of Sarajevo before winter comes». *3126
In Geneva, talks were postponed until Monday, rather than canceled, after mediators Owen and Stoltenberg said that they had received news of «further withdrawals» by Serb forces. *3127
In Sarajevo, workers succeeded in repairing overhead cable systems, bringing electricity back to parts of the city after a 55 day blackout, according to Sarajevo radio. *3132 Electricity was restored to vital facilities and households were expected to receive service within two to three days. *3133
The Kosevo hospital remained without running water and electricity. *3134 The hospital also lacked vital medicines and food. *3135
President Clinton welcomed the withdrawal of Bosnian Serb forces from Mount Bjelasnica and Mount Igman. The US State Department said more had to be done to help the besieged capital. *3136
The first group of 40 people, including seven children in critical condition, were evacuated from Sarajevo. A British Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules transport aeroplane evacuated 21 patients and 19 relatives from Sarajevo to the Falconara Air Base near Ancona, Italy. The mission was called «Operation Irma». Four of the children and five of the adults had to be carried onto the aeroplane on stretchers. Dr. Faruk Kulenovic, chief of surgery at Kosevo hospital, reportedly said, «The West is making self-promotion out of this. But it's too little and too late to clear their consciences . . . it would clear their consciences if there were not 9,000 dead in Sarajevo, if there were not 600 amputees, 150 paraplegics». *3141 Doctor Patrick Peillot, head of the UN medical evacuations committee, criticized Britain for its «supermarket attitude» to the evacuation, saying it was giving preference to children over adults to gain maximum media attention. *3142 «Patients are not animals», said Peillot. *3143
Eighteen seriously wounded or ill persons, accompanied by 20 relatives, were flown from Sarajevo to Swedish hospitals. *3144 Italian authorities were reportedly willing to receive 100 wounded children from Sarajevo. *3145 Italy requested, according to the UNHCR, that only children--not adults--be evacuated to the country's hospitals for treatment. *3146
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said that Sarajevo was «no longer under siege» and that peace talks could resume in Geneva. «Shells are not falling on Sarajevo and convoys with humanitarian aid are entering the city unhindered. With this, practically all civilian questions linked with Sarajevo are resolved, which means that civilian Sarajevo is no longer under siege», he told the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA. *3147
BiH President Alija Izetbegovic said that he would attend peace talks on Monday if the Serbs completed their withdrawal from the hills around Sarajevo. *3148
«There is no humanitarian siege of Sarajevo», said Brigadier General Hayes, UN chief of staff. *3154 Commander Barry Frewer, spokesman for UNPROFOR, also said that Sarajevo was not a city under siege. Frewer said, «We say that [the Bosnian Serb army] are in a tactically advantageous position around the city . . . I don't want to portray it as a siege . . . I see it as an encirclement». *3155 Frewer added: «To me, the word siege has a connotation of an intention militarily to starve out the city, to prevent free access in and out, to bring the city to its knees. That to me is what a siege means . . . what I'm saying is that [the Serbs] are moving in a way that will improve the conditions here . . . How long it will last I don't know». *3156 Tony Land, the director of UN relief operations in Sarajevo, however, said «one would have to consider the city still to be besieged». One report speculated that UNPROFOR's mandate, giving priority to the delivery of relief supplies across Serbian lines with only lightly armed UN troops as escort, had caused UN representatives not to offend the heavily armed Serbian forces. *3157
US Ambassador Viktor Jakovic said he would remain in Sarajevo for several days to update Washington's assessment of whether NATO should send its warplanes into action. Jakovic declined to comment on Karadzic's statement that the city was no longer under siege, but suggested that the Serb withdrawal from Mounts Igman and Bjelasnica had not really changed the city's state of siege in saying, «The Serb withdrawal simply means we're back to the same situation we were in when NATO made its decision [to approve the principle of air strikes to break the siege of Sarajevo]». *3158
UN commander Lieutenant General Francis Briquemont said that UNPROFOR was gradually opening routes in and out of Sarajevo for supplies such as fuel. «There is an economic siege but we can now say we are improving the situation», he said. *3159
In response to the controversy over the evacuation of Sarajevo wounded, UNHCR spokesman Manuel Almeida stated that the Geneva Convention held that an unarmed and seriously wounded combatant must be treated in the same way as any other person in urgent need of medical attention. Dr. Patrick Peillot, the French UNHCR doctor in charge of the evacuations, said «I think the people who are now in hospitals in London are wounded people regardless of their social position. We are working according to the Geneva Convention and a soldier in this particular case, once wounded, is considered as a civilian». *3160
It was reported that 17 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3161
In Geneva, agreement in principle was achieved on having Sarajevo placed under UN administration, allowing full freedom of movement for UN observers. *3162
The US agreed to airlift 100 emergency patients from BiH to the US for treatment, *3163 as Western nations reportedly «fell over each other» to offer to evacuate hundreds of sick and wounded BiH nationals. A UNHCR spokesman said that 14 other countries had offered at least 800 hospital beds (Italy: 450; Finland: 100; France: 98; Poland: 40; Turkey: 40; the Czech Republic: 40; Jordan: 20; Canada: 20; Ireland: 10; The Netherlands: 5; Switzerland: 5; Denmark: undetermined number; Norway: undetermined number). *3164
The BiH delegation in a statement delivered at the Geneva peace talks, lashed out at Britain, whose evacuation of critically wounded and ill Sarajevans they called a «cynical initiative» to mask «the British government's seemingly limitless appeasement of fascism». Allegations had been made that bribes were paid to enable wounded BiH soldiers to take the place of children in the evacuation. «The British government's preference for children--ideally those young enough not to be able to speak, is well publicized», the BiH officials said. «All males and many women between the ages of 16 and 60 are liable for military service in Sarajevo. They are no less deserving than the children who will in time take their place», the statement continued. *3165
It was reported that 17 UNHCR relief flights landed during the day. *3168
A production of Samuel Beckett's «Waiting for Godot» opened in Sarajevo. *3169 During rehearsals for the play, some of the actors became so exhausted that they had needed to lie down after only half an hour's work. *3170 About 100 people, including BiH Vice President Ejup Ganic and UN peace-keeping soldiers, crammed into a small children's theatre in central Sarajevo for the 100 minute premiere. *3171
According to conference spokesman John Mills, negotiations in Geneva began in the morning with a bilateral meeting between Izetbegovic and his delegation, and the Bosnian Serb group led by Radovan Karadzic. A meeting followed between Izetbegovic and his delegation and the Bosnian Croat, faction headed by Mate Boban. In the afternoon, Owen and Stoltenberg convened a trilateral session involving all three factions. Officials said that the talks included highly detailed bargaining over locations in the three proposed republics of villages, rivers, streams, roads and, for the Muslims, access to the sea. *3172
BiH President Izetbegovic said that the talks in Geneva had made no progress on maps. *3173 BiH Vice President Ejup Ganic told reporters in Sarajevo that he was skeptical that an agreement reached in Geneva on the fate of Sarajevo would keep the city from division by Serbs and Croats. Still, Ganic acknowledged that «people are exhausted», and said it was better to have UN administration in the city than to be overrun by Serbs. *3174
In Geneva, a spokesman for BiH President Izetbegovic said that he insisted that BiH remain a viable republic. Izetbegovic reportedly demanded that the Government get 40 per cent of BiH, take parts of eastern BiH captured by Serbs as part of their «ethnic cleansing» campaign, and have access both to the sea and to the Sava River joining the Danube. Izetbegovic demanded humanitarian relief for Mostar. He rejected UN statements saying that Sarajevo was no longer under siege. *3175
In New York, BiH representative at the United Nations, Muhammed Sacirbey, said at a news conference that he hoped that a dispute over remarks made by UNPROFOR spokesman in Sarajevo Barry Frewer could be «resolved in a rather subdued fashion». Frewer had come under fire by BiH Vice President Ejup Ganic for referring to Sarajevo as «encircled» rather than under siege. Mr. Sacirbey added that he felt that General Hayes' comments were «much more destructive» than Frewer's. Mr. Sacirbey said that Hayes' comments had «been insensitive, sometimes total falsehoods, and insulting». Mr. Sacirbey referred to Hayes' suggestion that «Serbs had shown good faith by withdrawing from [Mounts Bjelasnica and Igman], that there is no more siege, and that Muslims were responsible for blocking the humanitarian relief to Sarajevo because of what was going on in central BiH». *3176
NATO officials met in Brussels for a routine evaluation of the conflict in BiH. A NATO official remarked, «The situation has not really changed. The strangulation of Sarajevo continues». He added that NATO aircraft were ready to strike following a meeting of UN and NATO military chiefs on Saturday which drew up a final list of targets. *3177
In Copenhagen, the Parliament approved participation in possible NATO air strikes against Serbian forces. In Sweden, the Swedish Government said that it would send a battalion of 850 soldiers to help monitor a cease- fire. *3178
Two UNPROFOR and 17 UNHCR flights landed at the airport. *3182
In Sarajevo, UNPROFOR spokesman Frewer said that fighting in Mostar would affect the Geneva peace talks and prevent the delivery of humanitarian aid. *3183
In Geneva, mediators David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg hosted a session between the BiH delegation headed by Alija Izetbegovic, and the Bosnian Croat faction, led by Mate Boban. They also convened a session of Serb, Croatian and Muslim factions to discuss boundaries of the proposed new «Union of Republics of Bosnia and Hercegovina». *3184
A plan, fleshing out an accord to make Sarajevo a demilitarized UN-run city, was handed to the three leaders at the end of negotiations in Geneva. «I am not happy with this paper because I don't see in it the immediate lifting of the siege of Sarajevo», BiH President Alija Izetbegovic said of the plan. Announcing the agreement to demilitarize Sarajevo and put it under interim UN administration, conference spokesman John Mills said, «The devil's in the details». Muslim Muhamed Filipovic, member of the mixed three-member committee to work out those details, said agreement had been reached on preserving the borders between nine of the city's 10 municipalities. The Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale, the 10th municipality, was omitted from the plan. *3185
According to US Ambassador Madeleine Albright, UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali accepted a US complaint that two UN peace-keeping officers, Brigadier General Hayes, chief of staff of the commander of the UNPROFOR, and Lieutenant Colonel Barry Frewer, the Sarajevo spokesman of UNPROFOR, made inappropriate remarks. Hayes and Frewer had told reporters that Sarajevo was no longer under siege, but was «encircled» by the Serbs. Albright and most UN Security Council members, who met Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the situation in BiH, expressed dissatisfaction at the officers' statements, but did not ask Boutros-Ghali to replace or reprimand them. Reportedly the BiH government declared Frewer «persona non grata» in Sarajevo and called for his removal, but no action was taken by UNPROFOR. *3186
It was reported that 16 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3191
The Serbs' failure to withdraw from Mount Igman as promised prompted threats of a boycott from Muslim president Alija Izetbegovic at the peace talks in Geneva. *3192
UNPROFOR commander Francis Briquemont reaffirmed his opposition to NATO air strikes against Serb forces. A senior NATO diplomat said that Washington retained its conviction that the NATO air strike threat remained valid. *3193
Ireland agreed to take 10 wounded people from Sarajevo and donate 40,000 punts ($60,000) to Sarajevo hospitals, according to Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring. *3194
It was reported that 14 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3199
Lyndall Sachs, spokesperson for the UNHCR in Sarajevo, said that the UN had delivered five tons of diesel fuel for emergency generators at Sarajevo's main hospital and that another five were expected next week. Sachs said, «I am told [the delivery] was enough for the basic functioning of the hospital and its emergency generator, but we are still trying to get to the bottom of this». *3200
Serbian and Croatian armies blocked the main roads linking the Adriatic and Sarajevo to other Bosnian population centres inland, requiring UN aid convoys to move over back roads built for horse and cart. Before the war, the drive between Sarajevo and Split took approximately three hours. Along the route which the UN convoys were forced to take, the drive required two days under good conditions. With heavy vehicles like tankers carrying diesel fuel to power hospital generators in Sarajevo, the trip took a week or more. The journey reportedly included sharp inclines, hairpin bends, enormous potholes, rocks jutting through the dirt surface which shredded tires and soft road edges along mountain sides. Some bends were so tight that fuel tankers got around them by having a crane lift them from the rear while UN armoured vehicles attached tow ropes to drag the vehicles from the front. The Prince of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment, about 1,000 men, of the British Army was charged with keeping the road open from a base at Vitez, reportedly blasting and bulldozing around the clock. *3201
A meeting of BiH Army and Serbian militia leaders reportedly broke up with each side accusing the other of violating the Mount Igman withdrawal agreement. Bosnian Croat leaders refused to attend the meeting. *3204
It was reported that 15 UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3205
Alija Izetbegovic returned to Sarajevo in the afternoon to present the agreement forged in Geneva to his Parliament. *3208 In a news conference, Izetbegovic said that he would not recommend that Parliament vote in favour of the proposal. He said his government would seek changes in a map delineating the proposed borders. *3209 Under the plan, the Bosnian Serbs, who seized control of 70 per cent of the former Yugoslav republic's territory, would retain more than 52 per cent, leaving the Muslim's with 30 per cent and the Croats with just over 17 per cent. *3210 Ejup Ganic, BiH Vice President, said in an interview that the creation of the three ethnic states in the plan would spell the end of BiH. «This is not an offer. They are saying that if we do not sign the agreement they will kill us today, but if we do sign, they will kill us tomorrow», he said. *3211
It was reported that Norway joined the airlift with a C- 130 Norwegian Airforce aeroplane. Fifteen UNHCR relief flights landed in Sarajevo during the day. *3212
After months without electricity many Sarajevo residents had power restored. In some areas of Sarajevo, residents formed watch groups to ensure that no one removed the transformer oil from the local generating stations. *3213
The streets remained filled with people pushing makeshift trolleys laden with plastic containers filled with water from street-corner standpipes. Food remained scarce. Prices on the black market were beyond most people's reach at 110 German marks ($65) for the only chicken present on Sunday. A crowd of people gathered outside the gates of one of the UN barracks waiting for the soldiers to hand out some of their rations. *3214
According to Radio Sarajevo, BiH Parliamentary Speaker, Miro Lazovic, said that an extraordinary parliamentary meeting would be held to discuss the new Geneva peace plan. It was reported that BiH President Alija Izetbegovic would open the meeting (which would take place in Sarajevo), to a number of BiH intellectuals, artists and military representatives. Izetbegovic said he was not calling people to the meeting to vote for or against the project, but to give their opinions on the plan, which he described as having its «good and its bad points». Under the plan, Muslims who had made up 44 per cent of the population before the war would be assigned 30 per cent of the territory. The Geneva talks had succeeded in saving BiH as a state, said Izetbegovic, but had provided unsatisfactory boundaries for that state. The Geneva talks were halted until 30 August to allow the warring parties to consult their parliaments. *3222
Officers in the BiH army dismissed the peace map drawn up in Geneva, which President Izetbegovic would introduce to Parliament. «If the government decides to accept the plan, there would be a military coup», said an officer who identified himself as Nezir, deputy commander of the 17th Brigade in the central BiH city of Travnik. *3223
UN military spokesperson Patricia Purves said that it appeared that the UN was investigating allegations of corruption among UN military personnel. General Francis Briquemont requested civilian police detectives to come to Sarajevo to investigate a series of rumours about black market trading by UNPROFOR soldiers. At least 13 Ukranian troops had been sent home and dishonourably discharged for offences relating to the black market. Reportedly, journalists had seen French troops engaging in black marketeering. *3224
UNPROFOR reported that one electricity repair mission was carried out along with water repairs. Three UNPROFOR and 11 UNHCR aircrafts landed at the airport. *3225
In Vienna, Yugoslav Prime Minister Radoje Kontic said that any military strikes on Serb targets would lead to a full- scale war in the Balkans. *3226
In London, Janes Defense Weekly said that Yugoslavia had reconstructed its defence industry despite UN sanctions. The article said that Serbia was determined to have arms to sell to the third world market and to prepare itself for a possible conflict with Croatia. *3227
In Washington, Foreign Service officer Stephen W. Walker resigned in to protest to the Clinton Administration's policy in BiH, the fourth such official to do so. *3228
BiH Foreign Minister, Haris Silajdzic, said that changes needed to be made to a UN peace proposal before the BiH government would accept it. «The future Bosnian republic, the central republic, is not in my view viable either economically or geographically», he said at a news conference. He said that the BiH Government would demand that Bijeljina, Zvornik, Visegrad, Foca, Prijedor, Sanski Most, and Kljuc be joined with the Bosnian state. He said that the lines on the map rewarded the genocide by which means the Serbs had emptied those areas of their population. Mr. Silajdzic indicated that Lord Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg, co-chairmen of the peace talks, pressured the BiH Government to accept the plan, but denied that any linkage was made with future deliveries of aid or money for reconstruction. «The co-chairmen are doing a not-so-clean job for the international community and it is in large part not their fault», he said, «These men are giving the green light for the continuation of the aggression if the BiH government does not sign the agreement. This makes it obviously an ultimatum». *3233
Nineteen patients and 17 relatives were medically evacuated to Italy. *3234
Lord Owen, the European Community mediator in the conflict, said that the latest Geneva peace plan for the former Yugoslav republic could be viable only if it had NATO and Russian backing. German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel expressed skepticism over the outcome of the plan. *3238
At the Hague, BiH representative to the UN Muhammed Sacirbey, speaking before the International Court of Justice, strongly criticized the world community for its «passivity» in allowing «genocide» in BiH. In particular, Sacirbey condemned the arms embargo which denied BiH authorities their «right to self-defence». *3239
In Brussels, diplomats speaking on the condition of anonymity told Agence France Presse that members of NATO would favour strikes to protect any relief convoys trying to reach Mostar, recently ravaged and cut off from all sustenance by battles. *3240
Three US State Department aides explained to the New York Times why they quit over the US policy toward BiH. Jon Western said that an average story to cross his desk was that of a nine year-old Muslim girl, raped by Serbian fighters, then left in a pool of blood while her parents watched helplessly from behind a fence for two days before she died. «You can't read through the accounts of atrocities on a daily basis . . . and not be overwhelmed. It calls into question your morality». Mr. Western and Stephen Walker reported that dissent with the policy was widespread and consistent in all but the highest ranks at the State Department. Mr. Walker said that the Clinton Administration's inaction would harm American credibility, undermine UN peace-keeping efforts, lead to a peace settlement which would not hold, and set a dangerous precedent for the oppression of ethnic minorities elsewhere in the world. *3241
The United Nations Under Secretary-General for Peace- keeping Operations, Mr. Kofi A. Annan, accompanied by UNPROFOR commander, General Jean Cot, went to Sarajevo for intensive operation briefings from the UNPROFOR Commander in BiH, Lieutenant General Francis Briquemont, and the Chief of Staff, Brigadier-General V. Hayes. Mr. Annan met with BiH President Izetbegovic and stressed that every effort was being made to identify resources necessary to implement UNPROFOR's mandate. «The problem is that it is not easy to find governments willing or able to commit the enormous number of troops and equipment required. We are, however, close to having commitments from governments for the 7,500 additional troops required for implementation of Security Council resolution 836», he said. Mr. Annan also visited Kosevo Hospital, meeting with the head surgeon and speaking with patients in the surgical wards. He was told that new victims of sniper fire and shelling arrived each day, despite the cease-fire. *3243
The Yugoslav news agency Tanjug reported that Bosnian Serb and BiH negotiators agreed at the Sarajevo airport to allow 1,400 people to leave Sarajevo. Half would go to Serbia and half to Croatia. *3244
The Parliament of BiH met in Sarajevo at the Holiday Inn to discuss the peace plan brokered in Geneva. *3248 From time to time during the meeting the electricity went off, leaving the hall nearly pitch black. Several hundred academics, writers, army officers and other public figures joined the debate. *3249 The peace plan about which the Muslim-led BiH Parliament met would cede the 12 mile BiH coastline to the Bosnian Croat state and provide BiH with access to the sea via a road connecting their republic with the Croatian city of Ploce. BiH government officials reportedly feared that international guarantees of free access to the port through Croat territory would not prevent the Croats from cutting that access at will. *3250 Muslim deputy Muhamed Filipovic, a member of the delegation to the Geneva talks, said, «We want an outlet to the sea». *3251 BiH President Izetbegovic called on the mediators of the peace talks to grant the proposed, mostly-Muslim republic an outlet to the Adriatic Sea near the town of Neum. He also called for guarantees, including a UN resolution and a show of support from the US and NATO that the proposed union of Bosnia and Hercegovina would remain an internationally recognized country and UN member. The BiH Government would seek the inclusion in the Muslim-dominated republic of eight districts, which included Visegrad, Zvornik, Foca, Bratunac, Sanski Most, Bijeljina, Kljuc and Bosanska Krupa, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Sulejman Suljic. *3252
Criticism of the plan in the BiH Parliament included views that the plan would reward the Serbs for «ethnic cleansing», create a land-locked Muslim-dominated country with grim economic prospects and pave the way for erasing BiH from the map by linking the Serb and Croat republics with Serbia and Croatia. *3253
Tadeusz Mazowiecki, former Polish premier and UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the former Yugoslavia, said in a report on a visit he made to Sarajevo 11-12 August that the ongoing fighting in and around Sarajevo was worsening the human rights situation of all the city's residents: Serbs, Croats and Muslims alike. Mazowiecki cited breaches of the laws of war: the tactical use of starvation of the city; the deliberate military targeting, killing and wounding of civilians; the strategic denial and destruction of electricity, water food, medical and gas supplies essential to the survival of civilians; the shelling of hospitals and the detention of civilians as hostages. «Sniping at civilians to kill or wound deliberately those taking no part in hostilities constitutes a war crime», Mazowiecki said. He said the international community should set up an overland relief route to Sarajevo and enforce its protection, take over the central hospital under international protection and set up a procedure for the evacuation abroad of wounded, sick and maternity cases. *3254
The outcome of two days of deliberations in the BiH Parliament was an agreement to urge radical changes to the proposed map. The Parliament neither accepted nor rejected the plan, but instead endorsed the immediate cessation of hostilities, a return to the negotiating table and a renewed request for guarantees of the «territorial integrity» of BiH. *3258
The Bosnian Croat assembly adjourned after calling on Bosnian Croat leader Mate Boban to negotiate expanded borders for a Croat state. *3259
Serb deputies endorsed the Geneva peace plan. «After this acceptance of this proposal, the Bosnian Serb republic is a fact that cannot be denied, and I think that the international community has to accept it and recognize it», Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic told reporters. *3260 Karadzic reportedly said of the BiH stance toward the plan, «They are really risking the loss of what they already have, and may provoke the division of Bosnia into two parts . . . I really don't know what more they want . . . They won their state at the negotiating table, but lost it in the battlefield». *3261
UNPROFOR reported that one UNPROFOR and 14 UNHCR flights landed at the Sarajevo airport. *3262
The airlift operation carried out its 5,000th flight into Sarajevo. *3263
UNPROFOR reported that three UNPROFOR and 17 UNHCR flights landed at the Sarajevo airport. *3266
Eight UNPROFOR and 17 UNHCR aircraft landed in Sarajevo. According to the UNHCR, some countries pledged to add aircraft to the international airlift bringing food and medicine to Sarajevo, but money for these supplies was at issue. Serbian and BiH government authorities were talking about a food-for-fuel swap if the Serbs opened the railroad from Zenica to Sarajevo to bring in coal to Sarajevo. *3269
In its weekly report UNHCR noted that there was electricity in the city after repairs at the Kakanj, Jablanica and Tuzla power plants. UNHCR reported that the hospitals and bakery had electricity and that 80 per cent of the city's population had power for a few hours every two days. Technical problems, however, remained due to a lack of transformer oil for generators and the occasional break-down of power lines. As a result of the restored electricity, the Bacevo water pumping station was working again. However, it was noted that the water supply was still not sufficient for the whole population. *3270
International mediators Stoltenberg and Owen postponed the resumption of the Geneva pace talks until Tuesday morning because BiH President Alija Izetbegovic could not fly to Geneva in time. *3271