Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 26, 1993 TAG: 9305260179
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and The Washington Post
DATELINE: UNITED NATIONS LENGTH: Medium
The 15-member council voted unanimously Tuesday night to set up an 11-judge court at The Hague, the first international war crimes tribunal since the World War II allies held the 1945-1949 Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders and the Tokyo war crimes trials.
In Sarajevo, Bosnia's capital, international negotiators tried Tuesday to persuade the Bosnian government to reverse its adamant rejection of a U.N. "safe havens" plan aimed at halting the bloodshed.
The carnage continued. Bosnian radio reported that Serb forces pressed their attack on Maglaj, a northern city of 32,000 people.
Under a U.S.-backed plan, the United Nations would establish safe havens for Bosnia's Muslims.
Bosnia's Muslim-led government rejects the plan, saying that setting up the havens would effectively legitimize the Serbs' land grab. It also says the plan would lessen the likelihood of the Serbs ever agreeing to the Vance-Owen peace plan backed by the U.N. and the European Community. That plan would divide the country along ethnic lines into 10 semiautonomous regions.
French Gen. Philippe Morillon, commander of U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia, told Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic on Tuesday that the new plan would be only a "temporary arrangement."
But Izetbegovic said after the two-hour meeting that he had nothing further to say about it, Bosnian radio and television reported.
In Brussels, Belgium, NATO allies failed to agree on how many troops would be needed to protect safe havens and on which countries would contribute the forces.
A senior U.S. official attending the session with Defense Secretary Les Aspin said the Clinton administration continues to hold out hope for the Vance-Owen plan.
by CNB