U.N. STOPS AID EFFORT FOR BOSNIA

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993                   TAG: 9302180053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA                                LENGTH: Short
U.N. STOPS AID EFFORT FOR BOSNIA
Serb tanks bore down on a key suburb Wednesday as U.N. officials halted aid operations and accused Bosnia's warring factions of using food as a political weapon.
The Serb offensive on the last defensive lines was an apparent attempt to capture more of the capital before peace talks resume Friday in New York among Serbs, Croats and Muslims.
The Muslim-led government has blocked U.N. food aid from reaching Sarajevo, accusing the United Nations of ignoring besieged Muslims in eastern Bosnia. But convoys to the region have been halted by Serbs.
The United Nations has condemned use of relief shipments for political means. It also is increasingly frustrated by attacks on humanitarian personnel.
"I really regret that I have to take this decision because we have been trying to help the victims, the ordinary people, and we cannot do that," Sadako Ogata, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said in announcing the aid cutoff in Sarajevo and eastern Bosnia.
The action could increase pressure on officials in Sarajevo, where many residents depend on aid to stay alive, to lift their aid boycott.
Bosnian radio reported battles throughout the republic and said 20 people were killed and 60 wounded in an air raid on Muslim-held Cerska, an eastern town. In nearby Kamenica, authorities said they unearthed 23 bodies from what they called a mass grave of massacred Serbs.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB