Bosnian Cease-Fire Falters But UN Steps Up Aid
Bosnian Cease-Fire Falters But UN Steps Up Aid
MORTAR and artillery rounds punctured a cease-fire in Sarajevo yesterday that was supposed to provide safety for United Nations-sponsored crews repairing electric lines and other utilities.
In UN-controlled eastern Croatia, Serb forces arrested five Belgian UN policemen and accused them of patrolling the area without permission, the official Serb Iskra news agency reported Wednesday. UN peacekeepers have a mandate to patrol that area. Serb officials claimed the Belgian policemen tried to destroy some equipment after they had been discovered, leading the Serbs to believe the Belgians had been spying. The incident occurred in Petrovac, but the Serbs did not say when.
A UN spokesman, Maj. Jose Gallegos, said 14 mortar and artillery rounds landed on Serb-held areas of Sarajevo and 185 rounds on areas held by Bosnian government forces.
In Sarajevo, Mr. Gallegos also said agreement had been reached Tuesday to open a humanitarian aid convoy to Bihac, which hopefully would begin tomorrow.
An aid convoy, carrying about 120 metric tons to Gorazde, 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Sarajevo, was stopped near Rogatica on Tuesday.
But Larry Hollingworth, representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said he expected it would get into Gorazde late Wednesday because of a new directive from Serbs clearing the way for convoys to eastern Bosnia. Closing Sanctions Gap
Bulgaria and Romania called on the United Nations to station missions in the ports of all countries on the lower Danube to monitor the implementation of UN sanctions against rump Yugoslavia, officials said yesterday.
The two countries held talks in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Tuesday to coordinate implementation of UN sanctions and agreed to make a joint appeal to the UN for the stationing of UN missions on the lower stretches of the Danube.
A statement of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said "the two countries expressed readiness for a tripartite meeting with Ukraine to discuss improving cooperation" to halt violations of UN sanctions. Five Yugoslav tugboats towing oil barges broke the embargo and reached the Serbian stretch of the Danube last month after ignoring orders by Romania and Bulgaria to stop. The tugs were carrying oil loaded at the Ukrainian port of Reni. French Opposition Plan
France's conservative alliance, favored to win control of Parliament from the Socialists next month, unveiled a platform yesterday pledging tougher curbs on immigration but avoiding specific budget commitments.
The center-right Union for French Democracy (UDF) and the conservative Rally for the Republic are expected to win more than 400 of Parliament's 577 seats in two-stage voting March 21 and 28. Though Socialist President Francois Mitterrand will have two more years in his term, the conservatives would have control over domestic policy.
Immigration has been one of the most sensitive issues in France for several years. Debate has focused on the social and economic problems posed by the millions of immigrants - many of them illegal - from North and sub-Saharan Africa.
The platform proposed abolition of laws that give illegal immigrants the right of appeal as they are being expelled.
Economically, the platform advocates few major departures from the current policies of Socialist Prime Minister Pierre Bgovoy. It calls for further privatization of state-owned companies, a process already begun by the Socialists. Alain Juppe, secretary-general of the Rally for the Republic, estimated that roughly 50 billion francs ($9 billion) could be raised from state asset sales over the next three years.
