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

DATE: SUNDAY, April 17, 1994                   TAG: 9404170099
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From the Boston Globe and The Washington Post
DATELINE: ZAGREB, CROATIA                                LENGTH: Medium

U.N. WEIGHS BOSNIA PULLOUT

A NATO warplane summoned to give close air support to U.N. forces in the besieged Bosnian city of Gorazde was shot down Saturday, prompting the United Nations to call for an urgent review of whether its troops should remain in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The U.N. said the British Sea Harrier jet was downed by a surface-to-air missile fired by Serbian nationalist forces as it passed low over Gorazde, where fighting raged Saturday afternoon. The jet, hampered in its mission by poor weather, was hit before bombs could be dropped.

The pilot ejected safely into Bosnian government-held territory, but the attack on the plane highlighted the recent harassment and menacing of U.N. peacekeepers deployed to Bosnia 21 months ago to assist in humanitarian relief.

The U.N. warning to Bosnian Serbs to halt their advance or face NATO air attacks remains in force, said Maj. Rob Annink, a spokesman for the U.N. protection forces, Saturday night.

The U.N.-declared safe area appeared on the verge of falling, however. Serb forces were reported Saturday night to have closed within one-third of a mile of the town center. "If they continue like this, there will be a slaughter here," Dr. Safet Cibo said. Bosnian government media in Sarajevo, 35 miles away, said Serbs were on the "doorsteps" of the east side of town and systematically destroying houses.

In a transmission Saturday night to Sarajevo, Rijad Rahcic, a government official in Gorazde, said advancing Serbs were burning captured villages.

Last-minute diplomatic efforts to halt the conflict continued. Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, who hinted of a new peace initiative, left Moscow on Saturday for emergency talks with Serb leaders in Belgrade.

U.N. officials claimed late Saturday to have arranged a provisional cease-fire for all of Bosnia on the condition that Serbian rebels release all U.N. hostages and that the mission, in return, call off NATO warplanes buzzing the Gorazde region.

Western mediators and U.N. officials were expected to discuss the truce with the Serbs today, having reached the conclusion that the U.N. mission has neither the authority nor the respect to maintain peace in Bosnia.

Saturday's air support was requested after Bosnian Serbs shelled Gorazde and its hospital, despite assurances from Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commanders that the attacks would be halted, the U.N. said. As a result, U.N. special envoy Yasushi Akashi said he and U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali would review the U.N. force's future role in Bosnia and present a report to the Security Council.

"Assurances by the Bosnian Serb army have not materialized," Akashi said, adding that without Serb cooperation "it will be meaningless" for the U.N. contingent "to continue to fulfill its present activities."

A senior U.N. source in Zagreb said, "We either have to close up shop or come back with a large army."

Saturday's extraordinary appeal by Akashi marks the mounting frustration felt by the U.N. and its forces.

by CNB