f

Croats,
ousands
ofrefugees
flee area
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
AP) - Government soldiers and their
Croat allies were rapidly advancing on
Serb-held towns in central and western
Bosnia yesterday, sending thousands of
Serb civilians fleeing.
The Serbs were offering little resis-
ance and appeared to be pulling back,
indicating they were reconciled to los-
ing less important territory. They were
likely to lose the land anyway in a
possible peace settlement.
NATO also kept up its pressure on
Bosnian Serbs, launching airstrikes on
Serb-held territory around Sarajevo.
In Washington, Defense Secretary
William Perry said he found no evi-
dence of any civilian casualties in more
than 100 NATO bombings since Aug.
30. The Russian government has ac-
cused NATO of killing Serb civilians,
including children.
The advance by Croat and Muslim-
led government troops came as U.S.
envoy Richard Holbrooke began a new
round of shuttle diplomacy to settle on
a plan to divide Bosnia's territory.
Holbrooke was likely to tackle the
difficult issue in meetings with Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic, who has
negotiating power forthe Bosnian Serbs.
U.S. negotiators were carrying large
maps as they entered the talks in
Belgrade, the Serbian capital.
Last Friday, all three sides in the
Bosnian conflict agreed on a plan under
which the Serbs, who now hold about
two-thirds of Bosnia, would have to
give up large pieces of it. They would
end up with 49 percent, leaving the rest
for a Croat-Muslim federation.
U.N. and Bosnian officials reported
early yesterday that the town of Donji
Vakuf, about 55 miles northwest of
Sarajevo, was falling to government
and Croat forces.
Government forces for months have
been trying to push north and west
toward Donji Vakuf. Now, apparently,
they have their eyes on a bigger prize,
Jajce, 15 miles further to the north.


The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 14, 1995 - 9A
Musli advance on Se-hed towns
NAOas
T e changed in
From Daily W re Services
NAPLES, Italy - In the tw&o
weeks since (peration Deliberate;
,,Force began in Bosnia, the North
xAtlantic Treaty Organizatton hasi
~been transformed.
A military alliance designed to
A'ight World War 1ff against the~'
Soviet Uni on -but never called to
arms - finds itself conducting
expe ditionary warfare in the
FBalkans. As an agent of the United .
Nations, NATO in effect has b&-
> come a hired gun in the continuingi
post-Cold War dramaofhow, when~
tyand where to apply force in pursuit
of international staibility.
a Yet this muscu.larcomingofage
notwithstanding, t still remains to
eS whether NATO is going to
Swin its first armed conflict - and;
if so, at what price.
n Through an escalatory spiral of
threat, ultimatum and now vigor-
os bombing,the alliance has raised
the ante far beyond the immediate
issueof whether BosnianSerbgun-
niers decamp from the Sarajev&
2 suburbs.
e As Gen. George Joulwan; ,
NATO's top commander, put it
APP'astweekduring aspeehinTriest;
Swoman and her children clear rubble from what used to be their house In a suburb of Sarajevo yesterday. y, "Whether we are success
in or Yissions will determine th
agency HINA reported last night that governmepttroopshadreachedtheedge it could amount toa tactical withdrawal Srebrenica and Zepa, sending tens of future of Europe and the NAT0K
Jajee had been captured. There was no of Bosanski Petrovac, the last major in keeping with Serb expectations from thousands ofpeople fleeing. Last month, alliance.'
confirmation. town standing in the way of a linkup the peace negotiations. Croats recapturedSerb-heldterritoryain Jouewan's assessment is widely
In addition to its strategic and eco- with the Croats, about 12 miles to the Refugees were on the move toescape their republic, and more than 100,000 shared by the alliance's civilian
nomic importance, Jajee is significant south around Drvar. the troop advances, Spokeswoman Serbs fled. authorities in Brussels, "I think the
psychologically. Its capture would put If the two sides meet up, they would Alemka Lisinski ofthe U.N. High Coin- Increasingly backed by Russian stakes are rather dramatic," one
the allied forces in position to harass the establish along cordon of territory along missioner for Refugees in Zagreb, rhetoric, Serbs are complaining that the diplomat said. '"N ATO cannot af-:
Bosnian Serb stronghold of Banja Luka, Bosnia's border with Croatia and ease Croatia, quoted Bosnian Serb sources NAOcmag sufaradms frdibty avidong bean stredOu
farther north. Jajee also is the site of transportation between Bihac and as saying the entire civilian population stopped. The airstrikes started on Aug. wcandiilty-afong brstorlseidai.
important hydroelectric plants. Sarajevo. of Donji Vakuf, Jaje, and nearby 30, two days after a mortar shell landedw i dt sitai .
Capturing Jajce would be important U.N. forces, kept away from the front Sipovo and Mrkonjic Grad -a total of near a Sarajevo market and killed 38 But having wagered both the
enien whe the AC}sd in o
for the Bosnian government. Thousands lines in most places, could not confirm about 40,000 people - were fleeing or people.tt ade lian
of refiugees fled the area when Bosnian reports of the advances. Bosnian Serb being evacuated. The Serbs have refused to pull back Joulwan s calculus, NA TO faces a>
nube o frmial ateie l&
forces lost it in a bitter battle in October officials in Pale, southeast of Sarajevo, A bout 5,000 more Serbs were re- heavy weapons from around Sarajevo, nme ffrial ateil
1992. Jajee is also the site of the decla- have trouble communicating with the ported to be fleeing the Bosnian army the chief demand of the United Nations and political obstacles that threaten '
rationofanewYugoslaviabyCommu- region advance on Ozren. and NATO, claiming it would leave to undetmine this lattera-day exer-
fist partisans in 1943. Government forces also reported ad- lfthe reports prove correct,"we could their forces surrounding the capital vul- cisc in gutnboat diplomacy.
Innothes Bsia ucofime anesagintthe Serbs north of be facing another huge humanitarian nerable to government attack. Since bombs began~ falling onV
InnrhetBsna#nofred1ne ist:. Aug>30bi te a1iancehtasraexperi..
reports yesterday suggested that gov- Sarajevo in the region of Mount Ozren, crisis," Lisinski said. Huge population A P Photographer Sava Radovanovic Au. ' te aincetas efet-o
>'enced bothethe nteft
ernment soldiers pushing south from about 45 miles from the capital. shifts took place this summer across reported seeing a NATO jet fire four
the Bihac area were close to linkin U.N. and Bosnian army officials re- Bosnia and neighboring Croatia. rockets at Serb infantry positions on thepo o
'+ q_ z;9'r7;.k aF~d..pL yomA cy adt h e ,fr usto s f
with Croat soldiers. ported light Serb resistance, U.N. In July, Serbs overran two govern- front lines near Lukavica, a Serb-held .ilnayadtefutain #
Bosnian television reported that the spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Vernon said ment enclaves in eastern Bosnia, suburb of Sarajevo. y. nyted war