UN Steps Up Sanctions on Bosnian Serbs, Rewards Serbia

SARAJEVO will run out of food in two weeks if the Bosnian Serbs continue blockading United Nations aid shipments by land and air, the main UN relief agency said yesterday.

``We have stocks of food for about two weeks,'' Kris Janowski, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Sarajevo, told Reuters.

Bosnian Serbs blocked all UN convoys and closed the Sarajevo airport in retaliation for a NATO airstrike and further UN sanctions imposed on them for rejecting an international peace plan.

A crushing embargo was eased Friday on the rump Yugslav union of Serbia and Montenegro, however, as a reward from the UN Security Council for cutting off its Bosnian Serb proteges. International monitors were permitted to verify that the frontier had been closed, and on Friday, the Security Council rewarded Yugoslavia by voting to loosen sanctions in sports, cultural exchanges, and air traffic.

The resolution goes into effect after UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali receives a report from the border monitors that Serbia is banning all but humanitarian supplies to Bosnia.

The sweeping trade embargo, but remains in force, and the council warned that the penalties could be swiftly reimposed after they are lifted.

US Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright said US patience with Bosnian Serbs was limited. ``If [Bosnian Serb leadership in] Pale does not agree to the peace plan by Oct. 15, we intend to seek a resolution in this council to lift the arms embargo [on Bosnia-Herzegovina],'' she said.