Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 16, 1994 TAG: 9402160143
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Their comments represented a shift from the tone of last week's NATO ultimatum that any heavy weapons within the 12-mile exclusion zone would be subject to air attacks.
With only four days to go, it appeared negotiators were prepared to accept U.N. observation of the weapons as effective control rather than having the tanks, howitzers, field guns and heavy mortars actually withdrawn.
The shift was apparent Sunday, when Bosnian Serbs stopped giving up their weapons until the U.N. forces agreed the guns could come under U.N. monitoring at Serb bases rather than being taken to the Sarajevo airport.
While a cease-fire held for another day in the Bosnian capital, U.N. officials said only 40 of an estimated 500 guns ringing Sarajevo had been withdrawn or had come under "control" of troops under U.N. command.
In Sarajevo, Bosnia's warring parties were pressed to avert an escalation in the war. U.S. special envoy Charles Redman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vitaly Churkin appeared intent on avoiding air attacks. "The ultimatum is there," Redman said. "It has a very specific meaning, but at the same time our intention is to take advantage of that, to try to use that momentum now and turn everybody's attention toward a negotiated settlement."
But critics of U.S. policy in Bosnia were skeptical. Marshall Harris, who resigned from the State Department to protest what he said was Clinton administration inaction, said U.N. officials in Sarajevo were undercutting the NATO ultimatum.
Keywords:
INFOLINE
by CNB