BOSNEWS digest 427 -- 11/10/95

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

From: Dzevat Omeragic <dzevat@ee.mcgill.ca>

Croatian media reported that Serbian planes also bombed a Croatian village in Usora valley, close to Ozren Mountain in central Bosnia. It was the third instance on Sunday of possible action by Serb planes in Bosnia in violation of a NATO-enforced U.N. no-fly zone.

HINA quoted the HVO's 110th brigade commander, without naming him, as saying ``dozens of civilians were killed or wounded in the attack.'' It said at least two Serb planes flew over the valley dropping cluster bombs on the villages of Jelah and Lepenica.

"They are obviously looking for the best way to stop these talks and if the international community does not respond to such an attack then I think there is no point to negotiations."

But President Alija Izetbegovic said that the attacks should not affect the ceasefire due to come into effect on Tuesday.

Heavy fighting broke out along confrontation lines in north-west Bosnia, near Bosanska Krupa and betweeen Otoka and Kljuc.

The United States and Russia agreed their troops should work together to implement a peace accord but at a meeting in Geneva aappeared to make no headway on the question of who would run the operation.

Prior to scheduling the game, U.S. Soccer received approval from the U.S. State Department, however, due to the political tensions in the Bosnia region the U.S. Treasury Department overruled the consent.

Bihac, Sarajevo, Oct 8, 1995 (Press TWRA) - Bosnian army 5th Corps released that Serb jets yesterday afternoon had bombed the area 7 to 8 km far from Bihac. The jets returned to the airport Mihovljani near Banjaluka. The same source informs that Serb jets fired several guided 57 mm calibre missiles on the B-H army positions near Kljuc. UNPROFOR has not confirmed the allegations. Late in the afternoon, a powerful explosion was heard in Zenica yesterday. It is most likely another Serb assault with multiple rocket launcher missile of the "Orkan" type launched from Teslic.

UNPROFOR released that UN military observers (UNMO) recorded large movements of B-H army around Kljuc and Mrkonjic Grad. UN assumes that Bosnian govt. forces are consolidating their defence positions in the area. The UN spokesperson Miriam Sochacky has confirmed that B-H army, despite a massive Serb offensive, still controls the whole town of Kljuc. UN also states that five strong detonations were recorded in Tesanj last night causing several civil casualties and large material damages. It is supposed to be the result of Serb multiple rocket launcher attack. /end/ A.S.

Zagreb, Oct 8, 1995 (Press TWRA) - At the press conference, Croatian president Tudjman explained violence, arson and pillage that occurred in the part of Croatia liberated this summer partly by justified wrath of the refugees who returned and partly by the existence groups who in any war commit crimes which are not, says Tudjman, either encouraged or justified by Croatian govt. which resolutely opposed such crimes. Tudjamn stated that indicted are 611 cases of plunder and robbery, 27 cases of explosions and destruction and 7 cases of murder with 38 additional murders for which it was not found if they were committed in military operations or otherwise. Twenty four persons are imprisoned due to the mentioned cases said Tudjman. Croatian president also said that his government had not wanted Serbs to leave massively from Croatia, it did not bring it about yet, it wass ready to approve individual but not mass return. "Since Aug 5 to 28, 36 more murders have been committed at the liberated area, 4 of them have been cleared. Of 24 arson, 6 have been sorted out and 8 persons are indicted," said Croatian foreign minister deputy Zlatko Gledec in the interview for Croatian daily "Slobodna Dalmacija." According to UN sources, among them a Libyan officer Rida Ettarashani referring to the statement issued by Croatian army liaison officer, Croatian weekly "Globus" released that 375 persons have been arrested in Croatia due to arson, pillage, violence and murders of civilians at recently liberated areas of Croatia. The data released in "Globus" were not checked in the competent departments in Croatian police and army. Among the arrested, the same source alleges, there are 27O civilians, 7O policemen and 35 soldiers. /end/ A.S.=A0## CrossPoint v3.02 ##

Zivinice, Oct 8, 1995 (Press TWRA) - This afternoon, 6 persons were killed and 3O wounded when a cluster bomb fired by Karadzic's Serbs hit eastern Bosnian refugee camp in Zivinice, south from Tuzla. Radio B-H reports. Another assault soon followed when another person was killed and four wounded. Most casualties are among children and elderly people. /end/ A.S.

Sarajevo, Oct 8, 1995 (Press TWRA)- Karadzic's Serbs long range artillery continued destroying places in many parts of B-H. In central Bosnia, they fired six missiles on Travnik from their remaining positions on Mt. Vlasic. In northern Bosnia, they targeted free part of the Brcko county, particularly Boderiste and neighbouring counties of Srebrenik and Celic. Serb quisling leader in Bosnia Karadzic announced that one part of the lost areas would be regained militarily and another politically. "We will demand the territories occupied by Muslims and Croats be returned to us. It is our right as Republika Srpska was recognized by the Geneva Agreement on Sept 8, this year," says Karadzic, AFP reports referring to Fonet agency. Fojnica - Bosnian president Izetbegovic talked with the president of B-H Federation, K. Zubak. A member of B-H presidency and vice-president of the B-H Federation Ejup Ganic was present. He returned to Bosnia from the hospital in Austria having been recovered from the car accident he had had in Herzegovina. Izetbegovic announced that the beginning of cease-fire in=20 B-H was likely to be postponed (planned for Monday midnight) if gas and electricity supply are not provided for Sarajevo. Gas could not be supplied through the oil pipeline crossing Hungary as the corresponding Russian company has not approved it yet although agreed on it. As the pipeline goes through the so-called FR Yugoslavia, the agreement had to be obtained from the UN Committee for sanctions. So Bosnian embassies to Budapest and Moscow will demand an urgent explanation. Personal involvement of the US Assist. Secr. of State Holbrooke was called for. UNPROFOR announced that mine clearing around electrical power lines between Kiseljak and Sarajevo had started in order to provide electricity for Sarajevo as soon as possible. /end/ A.S.

Skopje, Oct 8, 1995 (Press TWRA) - Ophthalmologists from France arrived at Skopje to find if president Gligorov's eye is to be operated. Gligorov was examined by medical experts from Lyon soon after the assassination. Yesterday, a casual passer-by Hristo Hristomanov, ex-minister in Macedonian governments died of the consequences of another assassination. Macedonian investigators, helped by German colleagues, FBI, New Scotland Yard and London Metropolitan Police continue the investigation. /end/ A.S.=A0## CrossPoint

Sarajevo, October 9,1995 (Press TWRA) - At 7:OO a.m. Karadjic's Serbs again attacked the refugee settlement Oskova near Zivinice, with cluster bombs. Two people were killed, reported our correspondent. This is only the continuation of yesterday's massacre.=20 According to the final report in yesterday's Serbian attack on the refugee settlement Zivinice, where mainly women, children and old people are situated from the explosion of the rocket fired from multi-rocket launcher from Serbian positions in Osmak, municipality Kalesija, eleven people were killed and more than fifty were wounded. Among the killed are 4 children and one=20 1O-months old baby.

Yesterday afternoon Serbian planes dropped cluster bombs on civilian aims of town Tesanjka, near Tesanj. In this attack two persons were killed and 5O were wounded among which were 1O children. Serbs also used cannons to attack a number of towns in the central Bosnia: Zavidovici, Maglaj, Kakanj and Zenica while only on Gradacac 6O high caliber shells were fired. Serbs also fired cluster bombs on Banovici where four persons were killed.

Tuzla - The President of the B-H Presidency Alija Izetbegovic who is visiting Tuzla said after the attack for=20 TVB-H: "We are dealing with shire terrorism. They successfully kill women and children while they can no longer do anything on the battle ground". Izetbegovic stressed that these latest terrorist attacks will not jeopardize the peace process.=20

Naples - The NATO spokesman Lee Bloom said that after the Serbian attack on Zivinice NATO planes tried to locate and neutralize the Bosnian Serbs' heavy weapons near Tuzla, but the bad weather and darkness prevented the planes to act and forced them to interrupt the mission.=20

Paris - French Foreign Minister H. de Charette in an interview for French TV condemned yesterday's Serbian attack on Zivinice. "Some Serbs want to interrupt the peace process in=20 B-H', said de Charette stressing that such attacks will not be permitted". (end) S.K.

Washington, October 9,1995 (Press TWRA) - The US Defence Minister W.Perry said that during his meeting with the Russian Minister Gracov considerable progress was made regarding the Russian participation in the forces for monitoring the implementation of peace in B-H. The ministers agreed that the group of high Russian military officials will visit the NATO Headquarters in Bruxelles in order to participate in the planing of the joint peace forces operation in B-H.

US Government still did not get the Congress permeation for sending the US soldiers to B-H. However, as White House official Leon Panetta said "it is obvious that Congress has to allocate the funds for this kind of US soldiers involvement, so Congress has to have its word on that. However, nothing should question the Presidents authority to use US Army's Supreme Commander". He added that it would be absurd if US would not take the leadership in NATO after they headed the peace process in B-H. (end) S.K.

UN officials say all utilities have been restored to Sarajevo, and they hope to arrange for a ceasefire in Bosnia and Herzegovina to begin Wednesday one-minute after midnight. Haris Muratovic, Bosnia's minister for relations with the UN, said on Tuesday that Bosnians, Serbs and the U.N., "did their best to fulfill conditions. Unfortunately, we cannot say that Russia did what it was obliged to do." A spokesman for Russia's Gazprom company says the gas was turned on at midnight (Tuesday.) The spokesman said they were waiting for the ceasefire to begin before they resumed. A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said Monday there were no political obsta cles to the resumption of the supply. He also denied any connection with the slow start to the Bosnian Government's unpaid gas bill worth some 100 million dollars. But sources in Sarajevo say the Russian Gas Company was holding out for payment guarante es. Once payment agreement was reached early Tuesday, the pipeline valves were opened and gas flowed quickly towards Sarajevo. The UN officials working on utilities say the final stretch of the pipeline into Sarajevo has been pressurized, and some consumers in the city are receiving gas. Speaking from Tunis on Monday, Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic said the Serbs must remove a checkpoint near Sarajevo. But Bosnian Government officials in Sarajevo have downplayed that demand after UN officials strongly criticized the attempt to se t additional pre-conditions for the ceasefire. UN officials say they are trying to arrange a meeting between the warring sides to agree on a starting time for the ceasefire. Under the existing agreement the truce should begin at one-minute past midnight the day after utilities are restored to Sarajev o, or in other words, Wednesday one-minute after midnight. Electricity has been on in much of the city since Monday, and electrically-driven pumps are slowly returning water supplies to the city. The people of Sarajevo have reacted cautiously to the return of utilities. The initial truce is only scheduled to las t 60-days, and while many people expect it to be extended, they know that in the middle of winter, energy supplies could be cut faster than they have been restored.

UN officials in Zagreb say heavy fighting is reported continuing in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They say they have unconfirmed reports that Bosnian Army troops, with Croatian Army artillery support, have entered the strategic town of Mrkonjic Grad. The Bosnian Army has not reported the capture of the town, and fighting is believed still going on there. Nationalist Serbs say the town has been heavily shelled by Croatian Army artillery, but they deny it has fallen. They have warned they will retali ate against Croatian towns along the Croatian-Bosnian border if the shelling does not stop.

During the second day of a hearing at the International War Crimes tribunal in the Hague, a former prisoner Ibro Osmanovic has described the beating and killing of inmates of a Bosnian Serb prison camp. He testified about the deaths of two other inmates of a Serb prison camp in 1992. The hearing precedes the trial in absentia of the alleged prison camp commander, Dragan Nikolic. In his testimony before three judges, Ibro Osmanovic said Nikolic ordered two prisoners out of a building where more than 500 prisoners were crowded together and beaten. Mr. Osmanovic said he did not see what happened to the two men but he said he heard screams and moaning. One of the men returned later, according to the witness, unable to speak. The prisoner was said to have died within 20 minutes. Mr. Osmanovic said the other prisoner died the next day after pleading with the camp commander to allow him to see the sun one more time. When the hearing against Dragan Nikolic is completed, the War Crimes Tribunal is expected to issue an international warrant for his arrest. Mr. Nikolic will, presumably, be safe from prosecution for war crimes as long as he remains in nationlistic Bosni an Serb territory or in so-called "Yugoslavia." Both, the nationalistic Serbs and the "Yugoslav" Government have said they will turn over no one to the War Crimes Tribunal. At the same time, the human rights organization, Human Rights Watch, has accused the UN of condoning Serb genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Human Rights Watch issued a report, condemning alleged UN passivity in connection with the Serbs' capture of the UN declared "safe area" of Srebrenica in July. The nationalistic Serbs are believed to have murdered thousands of Muslims who disappeared aft er the fall of Srebrenica, which the UN was supposed to defend. Human Rights Watch says the UN consistently mishandled the crisis over Srebrenica, from what the organization calls the craven decisions of UN field commanders to the apparent destruction of evidence of massive Serb human rights abuses. Dutch peacekeepe rs are blamed for allegedly standing by and not preventing those abuses. The Dutch Defense Ministry says the Dutch peacekeepers could do nothing because they were out-gunned by the Serbs. The Ministry also denies that the Dutch peacekeepers destroyed a videotape that provided evidence of Serb atrocities.

The Bosnian government will lobby the Congress to try to get an agreement to dispatch American troops as part of a NATO force to implement a peace deal in Bosnia, Foreign Minister Muhamed Sacirbey said Monday. "What we will do is we will lobby for this peacekeeping force to include the necessary American involvement," Sacirbey said, speaking before talks at World Bank headquarters on reconstruction aid for Bosnia. The administration wants to send 15,000-20,000 troops if the warring factions can agree on a settlement, but the Republican-controlled Congress, worried about the cost and potential US casualties, has been skeptical of the plan. Sacirbey said that Russian forces would be "welcome to be part of the force as long as they act as truly an implementation force under the proper authority." Sacirbey said he did not want to see Bosnia divided up, as Germany was after World War II, int o Russian, American and other zones. He also commended NATO for its bombing raid on a Serb command bunker near Tuzla after Serb shelling killed at least 16 civilians Sunday and a Norwegian UN peacekeeper Monday. "Our view is that NATO and the UN absolutely needed to respond to this terrorist attack," which was "a deliberate means to try to break down the cease-fire," he said. "Once the cease-fire is implemented of course it'll be more difficult to respond to these kinds of provocations in view of the fact that there would be a NATO and U.N. force that may be more vulnerable," he added.