Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 19, 1994 TAG: 9404200009
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA LENGTH: Medium
``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.''
While Serb artillery pounded Gorazde and refugees searched for cover, U.N. officials said Serb leaders again promised a cease-fire and the deployment of U.N. troops in the eastern enclave, home to an estimated 65,000 people.
But there was no immediate sign that the pledge would be kept. The Serbs have repeatedly broken promises to stop attacking the U.N.-declared safe haven, which is about 35 miles southeast of Sarajevo.
U.N. workers in Gorazde reported heavy shelling of the town, 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.''
Shells fell at a rate of one every 20 seconds during the morning but slowed to one a minute by midafternoon, said Redmond.
The few U.N. workers in Gorazde reported artillery shells hit the town's hospital, a refugee center and the Red Cross building.
Bosnian Serb forces said they had taken over most of the Gorazde enclave, apart from the center of town and a stretch of 4 to 5 miles along the northern bank of the Drina.
Russia's special envoy, Vitaly Churkin, lashed out at Serb leaders after a weekend of trying to negotiate a halt to the fighting, saying he had never heard so many broken promises.
He told reporters in Zagreb, Croatia, that his government should break off talks with the Serbs, despite their cultural and religious ties with Russia.
President Clinton 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 said there would be little gained by calling in more NATO air strikes following the limited raids over the past week that 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.
The European Union nations sought a meeting with the United States, Russia and the United Nations to produce a coordinated diplomatic effort like the ultimatum that forced Serbs to pull artillery away from Sarajevo in February.
``We did not succeed in Gorazde, where we succeeded in Sarajevo because of uncoordinated political initiatives,'' French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.
Hampered by that muddled sense of purpose and lack of will, the United Nations could do little but express outrage at the Serb attacks on Gorazde, one of six ``safe areas'' declared by the Security Council a year ago.
Bosnia's Muslim president, Alija Izetbegovic, said the experience of watching Gorazde crumble taught his people a lesson. ``We have to be strong, because in this world only force is respected,'' he told 2,000 people in Sarajevo protesting against the United Nations.
Aid officials said 302 people had been killed and 1,075 wounded since the Serbs began their attacks on the Gorazde enclave three weeks ago. Sills said about half the dead were children.
The population of the city itself was also swelling, putting more people at risk, officials said.
Redmond said a report received Monday noted that ``there are thousands more people in the city'' than the night before. Many new arrivals came into the city Sunday because outlying villages had been ``literally burned to the ground,'' he said.
by CNB