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

DATE: MONDAY, February 7, 1994                   TAG: 9402070079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON RESISTS AIR RAIDS

Despite a call for air strikes in the wake of a mortar attack that killed 68 civilians in Sarajevo, President Clinton said Sunday the United States will continue to consult with its allies to press for a peace settlement. Shortly after he spoke, the United Nations secretary-general asked NATO to give him the option of bombing Bosnian Serb mortar positions.

Saturday's deaths are "terrible and outrageous" and "obviously, it seems highly likely that the Serbs are responsible," Clinton said in urging the United Nations to determine who fired the mortar rounds.

U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on Sunday night asked NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner for more leeway in requesting air strikes, according to a senior U.N. official.

Boutros-Ghali wants NATO members to give him permission to call for bombing runs "against artillery or mortar positions in or around Sarajevo which are responsible for attacks on civilian targets," the official said. The statement did not specify the Bosnian Serbs, but they are the forces besieging Sarajevo.

Clinton earlier in the day called on members of Congress to tone down their rhetoric in calling for air strikes, explaining that some European allies remain hesitant because they have troops on the ground who could be targeted for reprisals if air strikes take place.

Canada, and to a lesser extent England, are concerned about proceeding with air strikes, said an administration official.

"That does not mean it won't happen," Clinton said of air strikes. But he said the United States does not have the authority to order the strikes on its own.

Clinton also said he favors - and always has - lifting the U.N. arms embargo so that the Muslim-led government of Bosnia can be armed to help defend itself.

Senate Republican leader Bob Dole said a decision by Clinton to order air strikes would have "strong bipartisan support" in Congress. "I think it would certainly send a strong message to Belgrade," he said.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., a member of the Armed Services Committee, also urged Clinton to go ahead with air strikes. "We have the technical capability to go in there with air power, supplemented by a very limited number of people on the ground to direct those bombs to where we want them to hit," he said on CNN.

But such appeals irritated Clinton, who said, "It's very well for these members of Congress to say that - they don't have constituents on the ground."

Clinton urged the warring factions in Bosnia to redouble their efforts "to try to reach a settlement, hoping the shock of this incident will perhaps make all parties more willing to bring this matter to a close."

In Sarajevo, U.N. special envoy Yasushi Akashi said Sunday that he had failed in a mediation bid between Bosnia's Muslim-led government and Serb leaders, Agence France Presse reported.

Keywords:
INFOLINE

by CNB