Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509070078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA LENGTH: Long
As the West's test of wills with rebel Gen. Ratko Mladic hardened, other Bosnian Serb leaders tried to squelch rumors of a rift in their ranks that could complicate peace talks set for Friday.
NATO jets swooped through a cloudless night sky Wednesday, visible in the light of a nearly full moon before fog enveloped the city.
They struck around the Serb-held southwestern suburb of Lukavica about 8:20 p.m. (2:20 p.m. EDT), according to U.N. officials. About 90 minutes later, two more explosions were heard in the northwest. U.N. officials and witnesses reported two more attacks on the Lukavica area, as well as another near Serb-held Hadzici, to the west.
``The weather has cleared over Sarajevo, and NATO has resumed airstrikes,'' said Maj. Buster Hows of the U.N. rapid reaction force.
Those troops also saw action late Wednesday, firing 18 105mm and 155mm artillery shells at a Serb mortar that fired on traffic over the treacherous Mount Igman road, according to U.N. spokesman Maj. Guy Vinet. That route is the only road out of the besieged city.
U.S. Adm. Leighton Smith, the NATO commander for southern Europe, said in Naples, Italy, that reports indicated ``very successful results'' from attacks earlier Wednesday, despite some cloudy weather. He did not give details.
NATO has flown than 1,500 missions in the last week since launching its biggest operation yet in the 31/2-year-old war. The attacks, aimed primarily at easing the Serb threat to the besieged Bosnian capital, were prompted by mortar attack blamed on the Serbs killed 38 people in Sarajevo.
NATO suspended its raids Friday to allow for negotiations. But the big guns remained in place after a Monday deadline passed, and NATO jets took to the skies again Tuesday.
The New York Times, citing unnamed senior U.S. officials, reported Wednesday that NATO has decided to intensify its air attacks and double its targets, but was unable to do so Tuesday because of poor weather.
NATO showed film of Tuesday's hits by U.S. and French aircraft on several Bosnian Serb targets, including military command centers and ammunition depots going up in huge clouds of smoke.
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary William Perry said U.S. laser-guided bombs had generally hit within 10 feet of their intended targets, as planned.
``The campaign will go on as long as needed and as intensely as needed to accomplish the objectives,'' Perry said.
NATO said it was trying to limit its attacks to selected military installations to avoid harassing the Serbs so much that they couldn't organize a withdrawal.
Gen. Manojlo Milutinovic, the Bosnian Serb forces' chief of staff, spoke of only ``minor losses'' among his soldiers and ``several'' civilian casualties.
But the Bosnian Serb army information service late Wednesday claimed that 100 civilians had been killed and hundreds more wounded in the NATO bombing runs.
Bosnian Serb police and military officials reported that Wednesday's targets included military installations in Kalinovik, 25 miles south of Sarajevo and hometown of Mladic, the Serb military commander.
``We gather he's in a defiant mood,'' U.N. spokesman Alexander Ivanko said of the tough-talking Mladic. ``But we hope this mood will change and he will start complying with our demands.
``Every day of NATO airstrikes means his army is being clobbered, and clobbered and clobbered. For this clobbering to stop, he has to remove the heavy weapons from around Sarajevo.''
Ivanko said the United Nations had not been in contact with Mladic since Monday, when he rejected U.N. demands that a senior aide to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic had basically accepted a few hours earlier.
``There may be a certain disarray among the Bosnian Serbs and that is why orders coming from one end are not being followed through the other end,'' Ivanko said.
Karadzic, who recently was forced to rescind Mladic's demotion after most generals lined up behind their commander, sought Wednesday to counter growing signs that Mladic was calling the shots on the battlefield.
``I am in charge ... and our relations with General Mladic have improved,'' Karadzic told CNN.
He asserted that the Serbs already had accepted most of the U.N. demands, which include reopening Sarajevo's airport and roads into the city, an end to attacks on U.N. ``safe areas'' and guarantees of free movement for U.N. and aid workers.
But in separate comments to reporters, Karadzic appeared to embrace Mladic's line rejecting the West's key demand: that all the Serb heavy weaponry be moved at least 121/2 miles from Sarajevo.
``We have withdrawn as much as we could,'' he said. ``But we can't withdraw (all) what we possess in order to protect ourselves.''
While Karadzic and Mladic tried to portray their defiance as necessary to defend Serb civilians, the bigger but unspoken issue was the future of Sarajevo.
Peace talks to begin in Geneva on Friday will focus on how to divide up postwar Bosnia. The U.S. plan would give the Serbs 49 percent of the country, compared to the nearly 70 percent they now hold, and a Bosnian Croat and Muslim federation the rest - including Sarajevo.
The Serbs want at least some of the capital city and are afraid that if they pull back now, they will lose all claim to it without getting anything - such as Gorazde, an eastern town - in return.
Keywords:
INFOLINE
by CNB