Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 19, 1994 TAG: 9404190169
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and The New York Times
DATELINE: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA LENGTH: Medium
President Clinton's principal national security advisers will recommend to him today that he seek approval for the broader use of air power in Bosnia to halt hostilities and force the Serbs back to the bargaining table, senior administration officials said Monday night.
Among the leading options to be presented to Clinton at a 9 a.m. meeting is a plan calling for wider NATO airstrikes against the Serbs unless they withdraw from positions around Gorazde and other areas the United Nations has declared to be ``safe havens'' for the Bosnian Muslims, the officials said.
U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali threw his weight behind that approach Monday night by asking Manfred Woerner, his NATO counterpart, to seek approval from the allies to use airstrikes to protect those besieged areas.
Boutros-Ghali acted in part at the encouragement of Madeleine Albright, the U.S. chief delegate to the United Nations, who telephoned him during a break in a meeting of Clinton's top national security advisers, U.S. and U.N. officials said.
If Clinton embraces his advisers' recommendations, he could seek approval from the allies as early as Wednesday, when representatives to the North Atlantic Council, NATO's governing body, are scheduled to meet in Brussels, administration officials said.
U.N. officials earlier said Serb leaders again promised a cease-fire and the deployment of U.N. troops in Gorazde, one of the six U.N. safe havens. The eastern enclave is home to an estimated 65,000 people.
A Red Cross convoy and a company of U.N. troops were prepared to head to Gorazde today, said U.N. spokesman Maj. Dacre Holloway.
But relief officials and local leaders also reported more shelling, and there was no immediate sign that the cease-fire would be respected. The Serbs have repeatedly broken promises to stop attacking the U.N.-declared safe haven.
``The town is at their mercy,'' said the U.N. commander for Bosnia, Lt. Gen. Sir Michael Rose. ``We are on the edge of a major humanitarian catastrophe.''
Previous NATO airstrikes on Serb positions around Gorazde were called to protect U.N. peacekeepers there, not officially to end the siege. To go beyond protecting U.N. personnel, NATO must approve full airstrikes.
At the United Nations, Albright said she supported the appeal.
``What has happened in Gorazde is grim and very serious,'' she told reporters. ``We believe it is absolutely essential to regain the momentum, through a combination of diplomacy and military means.''
President Clinton earlier played down the possibility of further air attacks on Serb forces around Gorazde and renewed his call for ending a U.N. ban on arms shipments to the Muslim-led government.
U.N. officials also had said there would be little gained by calling in more NATO airstrikes because the limited raids over the past week did not blunt the Serb offensive. The only military officer in Gorazde to guide NATO planes was among seven British officers evacuated at dawn, U.N. officials said.
Fewer than 10 U.N. observers were left in the besieged enclave.
U.N. workers in Gorazde reported heavy shelling of the town, about 35 miles southeast of Sarajevo, said U.N. spokesman Joe Sills in New York.
``The defenses have collapsed. There are intentional and indiscriminate attacks on civilians,'' he said.
U.N. staff said thousands of people were camped in the streets because they lacked shelter.
``People are trying to hide in every conceivable safe place, obviously to no avail,'' said Ron Redmond of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva. ``People are literally exposed to any shelling, sniper fire, machine-gun fire ... People are terrified.''
by CNB