bosnet-digest V5 #73 / Wednesday, 21 February 1996

From: Dzevat Omeragic <[email protected]>

Bosnia-Herzegovina News Directory

Subject:   bosnet-digest V5 #73 / Wednesday, 21 February 1996

From: Dzevat Omeragic <[email protected]>

CONTENTS

[01] 20 February 1996 - Press TWRA & FPB Zagreb

SUMMIT OF GENERALS AT THE SHIP "GEORGE WASHINGTON" Naples, Feb 19, 1996 (Press TWRA) - Commander of IFOR and Afsouth (NATO south wing), the US Adm. L. Smith called the meeting of the joint military commission for the Dayton agreement implementation to be held at the US plane carrier "Washington" in the Adriatic.

Participants at the meeting are: head of the HVO HQ, gen. Zivko Budimir, commander of the B-H army HQ general Rasim Delic and Serb general Zdravko Tolimir. /end/ A.S.

VLADO GOTOVAC - NEW CHAIRMAN OF HSLS Zagreb, Feb 19, 1996 (Press TWRA) - At the 6th HSLS (Croatian Social-Liberal Party) conference, Vlado Gotovac was elected the Party's chairman, led from 1989-199O by Slavko Goldstein and from 199O-1996 by Drazen Budisa. Vice-chairmen are Jozo Rados, Goran Granic, Ivo Skrabalo and Zlatko Kramaric. Party's secretary gen. Bozo Kovacevic is replaced by retired Croatian army gen. Karl Gorinsek whom Franjo Tudjman removed three years ago due to a military operation in Baranja. He is ethnic Slovenian, Croatian citizen. He led defence of Croatian eastern part with Osijek as the biggest town, whose mayor is Kramaric. Goran Granic (brother of Croatian foreign minister Mate Granic) was a candidate for the Zagreb mayor declined by president Tudjman. New candidate is Jozo Rados about whom Tudjman has not made any statement yet.

After some leading HSLS members left the Party to join the leading HDZ (Ivan Bozicevic, Mate Mestrovic, Damir Zoric), "outstanding liberals" (Mladen Vilfan, Goranko Fizulic, Bozo Kovacevic) criticized the chairman Budisa as yielding to those still HSLS members but close to deserters in HDZ. Election of Gotovac, Rados, Granic, Skrabalo, Kramaric and Gorinsek should preserve the unity in the partition-undermined HSLS.

In the speech to the Conference, Drazen Budisa, at the end of his chairman's mandate announced that in spring 1994, HDZ and Tudjman offered him privileges, access to the state's secrets and two-party system in Croatia if he left the oppositional coalition which nearly won majority in the Parliament after dissidents of HDZ, led by Mesic & Manolic, founded the opposition party HND.

The Conference resolution states: Though it was written in the Constitution more than five years ago, Croatia is not a democratic & social state. (...) President of the Republic and of HDZ concentrates all the power in his hands, extending Constitutional authorities of semi-presidential system, maintaining the power like an absolutist. (...) Government has control over electronic media, trying to prevent independence of the papers." Gotovac, who due to criticism of the communist repression, spent twelve years in Yugoslav prisons, announces severe criticism of the authorities and effort of HSLS to bring democratic change to Croatia as soon as possible. The claim that the opposition coalition is unnatural is not right, as the coalition is joined in devotion to freedom, says Gotovac, calling Church to defend all-human values. /end/ A.S.

Sender: [email protected]

From: Foreign Press Bureau-Zagreb <[email protected]>

FOREIGN PRESS BUREAU DAILY BULLETIN FEBRUARY 20 1996

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PEACE ACCORDS CONTINUES REGARDLESS OF SERBIAN COOPERATION IFOR Commander Admiral Leighton Smith said that the implementation of the peace accords would continue regardless of Sebian cooperation. The Bosnian Serb General Zdravko Tolmir, who was to represent Serbs at a joint military commission, failed to show up yesterday at a meeting with NATO on board a U.S. carrier in the Adriatic. The HVO and Bosnian army representatives, generals Zivko Budimir and Rasim Delic, flew to the U.S. carrier "George Washington" and met with Admiral Smith. French press reported that IFOR ground forces Commander, General Michael Walker, was set to meet with General Tolmir this morning in Pale. NATO hopes that General Walker will persuade the Bosnian Serb military to renew their contact with IFOR.

RESTRICTIONS ON MOVEMENT LIFTED IN MOSTAR As of noon today all restrictions on movement are to be lifted in the city of Mostar, said Deputy EU Administrator Claus Mecher. Croat and Moslem police are set to begin joint patrols together with the EU police. The Croat and Moslem patrols will have executive authority. Mr. Mecher added that he hoped both sides would cooperate so that all risks can be avoided.

WAR CRIMINALS INDICTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL IN THE HAGUE International forces in Bosnia have begun distributing a pamphlet with 17 photographs of indicted war criminals to help them recognize and apprehend them. The pamphlet is called "War criminals indicted by the International Tribunal in the Hague". It has 17 photos including shots of the two best known indictees, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and military Commander General Ratko Mladic.

ALL INDICTED WAR CRIMINALS IN BOSNIA SHOULD BE APPREHENDED BY IFOR NATO Secretary General Javier Solana says that all indicted war criminals in Bosnia should be apprehended by IFOR before the end of NATO's one year mandate in Bosnia. Speaking in Ottawa, Canada, Mr. Solana said apprehending suspected war criminals was part of IFOR's job and that NATO was not going to hunt down suspects, but if they found General Mladic they would hand him over to the Hague Tribunal.

IFOR SEIZES WEAPONRY AND AMMUNITION IN ILIJAS French IFOR troops have seized a considerable amount of weaponry and ammunition at a Bosnian Serb depot in Ilijas, a Sarajevo suburb. Under the Dayton Agreement, the weapons were supposed to be withdrawn by Feb. 3. About 100 French troops took part in the operation supported by U.S. F-18 jets.

SERBIAN TERRORIST RING UNCOVERED IN ITALY According to the Italian newspaper "Messagero", a Serbian terrorists ring, which has been preparing terrorist actions in Italy, has been uncovered. The terrorists planned to blow up objects including the oil refinery in Falconari near Ancona, where UN planes used to take off for Sarajevo. "Messagero" wrote that the Serb terrorist had built up a storage of arms and explosives including anti tanks mines, gas bombs, grenades and automatic weapons for a series of attacks in Italy.

FOREIGN MINISTER MATE GRANIC MEETS WITH THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE'S DIRECTOR FOR POLITICAL ISSUES Croatia's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mate Granic met today in Zagreb with the Council of Europe's Director for Political Issues, Hans Peter Fuerrer. The delegation of the Council of Europe expressed its interest in the process of the peaceful reintegration of the occupied parts of eastern Croatia into the Croatian state system, and the role of UNTAES in the process. Minister Granic stressed that the full realisation of the basic agreement for eastern Croatia should start immediately and that an important prerequisite for the agreement was the normalisation of relations between Croatia and the so called Yugoslavia.

Opinions expressed/published on BosNews/BosNet-B do NOT necessarily always reflect the views of (all of the members of) Editorial Board, and/or moderators, nor any of their host institutions.

Murat Erkocevic <[email protected]>

Dzevat Omeragic <[email protected]>

Davor Wagner <[email protected]>

Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>

[02] Tribunal Watch: Poster Boys

Sender: Tribunal Watch List <[email protected]>

From:   Tom Warrick <[email protected]>

Berserkistan's Jim Bartlett is online with the first picture of the wanted poster being distributed to IFOR soldiers. It has "grainy" pictures of 17 unarrested indicted war criminals, along with the names and other information on the remaining 34 indictees. Bartlett's picture shows Admiral Smith holding up the poster for journalists to see, with several other officers looking at Admiral Smith, and Carl Bildt looking in another direction.

Those of you with high-speed Internet links and Netscape 2.0 should check out Bartlett's Web site, Berserkistan, run by Pacific Interactive Media. The URL is:

http://www.linder.com/berserk/berserk.html

Bartlett is a free-lance journalist whose coverage of Bosnia has been excellent. He follows photojournalist Robert Capa's motto, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." The Web site has won numerous awards in the short time it has been set up. (The fact that it has links to the Coalition's Web site is wholly extraneous to this strong endorsement!)

Tom Warrick Coalition for International Justice

Opinions expressed/published on BosNews/BosNet-B do NOT necessarily always reflect the views of (all of the members of) Editorial Board, and/or moderators, nor any of their host institutions.

Murat Erkocevic <[email protected]>

Dzevat Omeragic <[email protected]>

Davor Wagner <[email protected]>

Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>

[03] Support Program For the University of Tuzla

SUPPORT PROGRAM FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF TUZLA.

Foundation YSY (University of Amsterdam) has been active at Tuzla University since April 1994. One of our members has just spend a four month period in Tuzla preparing four projects. We hope some of our (American) colleagues will be interested to work together with us on the following projects:

Summer university

This summer we are organising an international summer university in Tuzla. The summer university will consist of two parts. On the one hand we will offer a social-science program that focuses on topics as nationalism, multi-culturalism etc. The other part of the program will consist of courses in medicine, economy, physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, mining and geology, electrical and mechanical engineering. Professors from the USA, Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland have already committed themselves to participate. We are still looking for more (American) professors who would like to teach and (American) students who would like to participate.

English Courses

At this moment we have two American professors of English employed in Tuzla. They are giving English courses at the University. Before the war, English language was part of the normal curriculum of all students, but due to the war, English classes had stopped.

Our ultimate goal is to establish a department of English language and Literature at the University of Tuzla, as desired by both students and staff of the University of Tuzla.

We are still searching for more professors of English language, literature and financial resources.

Exchange program

We have started an academic exchange program for assistants and professors of the University of Tuzla. Especially young assistants are included. We hope to offer them a study abroad for a period of three to six months. In conjunction with the University of Tuzla we have therefor compiled a list of 30 academics of the University who have the highest priority. All of them have a good command of English language. The list can be obtained from our office. We still need assistance in finding suitable places for them. So far we were able to find places for five of them. Especially offers for stays over 3 months are very much appreciated.

Assessment of needs

We have compiled an assessment of needs of the University of Tuzla. This 110 pages manual includes specific information on all faculties. . Lists of needed books and material are included. Also information on other initiatives for the University of Tuzla can be found in the book as well as a list of contacts at the University of Tuzla. The booklet is now available from our office.

In order to obtain more information on any of these projects, please send a fax or e-mail to our office including your postal address and the topic you are interested in.

Foundation YSY, Fax: ++.31.20.5252495, E-mail: [email protected]

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Opinions expressed/published on BosNews/BosNet-B do NOT necessarily always reflect the views of (all of the members of) Editorial Board, and/or moderators, nor any of their host institutions.

Murat Erkocevic <[email protected]>

Dzevat Omeragic <[email protected]>

Davor Wagner <[email protected]>

Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>

[04] This Week in Bosnia: Feb. 21, 1996

**************************************************************************

"Look around you. People are walking, people are smiling, people are buying and selling. It's as if they've just woken up from a

terrible nightmare."

--Vanja Hodzic, 23, on the rebirth of Sarajevo **************************************************************************

February 21, 1996

THIS WEEK IN BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA

SARAJEVO `COMING BACK TO LIFE.' "Only a few months ago, this was a city almost paralyzed by fear, subject to merciless bombardments, haunted by snipers, and always dreading the hours and days ahead," the N.Y. Times reports. Now, the courageous and resourceful people of Sarajevo are bringing their city back to life.

"So many people packed Sarajevo's open-air market on Sunday that it was almost impossible to move," writes correspondent Stephen Kinzer, noting that stalls were piled high with goods. "It is little short of astonishing." Less than three years ago, starving Sarajevans were reduced to eating grass to survive.

Massive problems continue, of course. Many residents are physically and/or psychologically scarred by the horrors of siege. And the city itself has changed; not only landmarks bombed to rubble, but because many of the city's educated, cosmopolitan residents were killed or fled.

"Things aren't like they were before the war, because too many of the people who made Sarajevo such a wonderful place are gone," Vildana Kovacevic told the Times. "But most of us think the worst is over."

While prices have plunged -- 12 German marks for a kilo of veal instead of 120, 10 marks for a roll of film instead of 50 -- there is little opportunity to find a job in the city's shattered economy. Most of those not lucky enough to be employed by foreign agencies must survive on humanitarian aid or help from relatives abroad. Nevertheless, the Times reports, "This city's revival has begun sooner than anyone had dared hope, and taken on an amazing momentum."

"People are full of hope," Nenad Hadzovic, 24, told the Times. "But everyone wonders what will happen when IFOR leaves. There is still a lot of hatred in this country. You can't help worrying that these good times could end suddenly, and the war could start again."

SNIPERS TARGET SARAJEVO BUSES. Sarajevans still face danger, albeit reduced, from Serb nationalists seeking to kill and terrorize them.

A 76-year-old man, Sergej Markovic, was seriously wounded in the feet Wednesday when snipers attacked a bus during the first day of restored service between Serb-occupied Ilidza and Sarajevo center.

"There was a real panic inside and everybody lay down on the floor and was screaming," Markovic told Reuters from his hospital bed. "Please don't let NATO talk to me about freedom of movement any more."

The next day, a 61-year-old woman was shot in the neck on a bus traveling through Ilidza.

NATO troops captured two sniping suspects Friday, but they were turned over to Serb nationalist authorities. It was Serb officials who architected and carried out the campaign of shelling, sniping, and terror against Sarajevo civilians for almost four years, killing more than 10,000 people.

On Saturday, a bus bringing refugees home from Germany was attacked in Ilidza. Jelena Mulahasanovic, 44, was severely wounded in the kidneys. A second bus was hit, but there were no injuries.

HEALTH WARNING. A World Health Organization official believes that Bosnia faces potentially serious outbreaks of disease, as well as massive psychological trauma after four years of brutal war.

"We are concerned about the possibility of epidemics. The quality and quantity of water and sanitation are still a big problem," WHO European Director Dr. Jo Asvall told Reuters.

Overcrowding, along with a lack of water, sanitation, shelter, heating and food, have already caused a five-fold increase in infectious diseases. In addition, an estimated 60% of Sarajevans suffer from traumatic stress syndrome, depression, personality disorders, or drug and alcohol abuse from four years of siege.

ROME SUMMIT SUPPOSEDLY PUTS DAYTON BACK ON TRACK. The presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia met with international officials in Rome last weekend, at an emergency summit aimed at putting the deteriorating Bosnian peace process back on track.

Leaders claimed to have reached agreements shoring up the crumbling Bosnian-Croat federation in Mostar, as well as ending a Serb nationalist boycott of the process following the detention of two of their officers by an international war-crimes tribunal. All three presidents reaffirmed their commitment to fulfilling the Dayton accords.

"Rome has averted a crisis," U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said Sunday. Holbrooke, the key architect behind the Dayton agreement, is leaving his government job this week.

EARLY FAILURE. But the summit quickly "failed its first test," BBC notes, when Bosnian Serb Gen. Zdravko Tolimir boycotted a Monday meeting with NATO, Bosnian, and Bosnian Croat officials scheduled aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier. NATO commander Admiral Leighton Smith called Tolimir's no-show "unconscienable" and "not very smart."

AP was more blunt, saying the boycott "made a mockery of the weekend summit in Rome."

"As long as we have two war criminals as the heads of that para- state we are going to have problems," Bosnian Croat Gen. Zivko Budimir told Reuters. Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, both indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity, retain power in Serb-held Bosnia, violating the Dayton accords.

Smith said he is authorized to recommend economic sanctions not be lifted against Bosnian Serbs -- as agreed in Rome -- if they continue to boycott military and civilian meetings.

Tolimir later told Lt. Gen. Michael Walker, commander of NATO ground forces in Bosnia, that he had to wait until a Serb assembly meeting today (Wednesday) before determining if contacts could be resumed.

MOSTAR BOUNDARIES REDRAWN. Also at the Rome summit, Croat and Bosnian officials agreed to redraw Mostar district boundaries laid out by European Union Administrator German Hans Koschnick. The city was then supposed to finally be reunified yesterday (Tuesday) -- removing all barriers and checkpoints. "But," according to AP, "the promised freedom of movement lasted only an hour."

Several hundred Muslims braved torrential rains and the taunts of hostile Croats to cross into the western part of the city. One Croat wore a Hitler mask and swastika, and yelled "fascism is good!" Reuters reports. The Muslims were also required to show identification papers -- in violation of the Rome agreement.

"I'm afraid, I'm very much afraid. But my heart is leading my head," said one Muslim, 24-year-old Semir, who dared to cross. "This is our town also." He was among thousands of Muslims driven from their homes on the city's west side by Croatian nationalist forces early in the war.

Yesterday, Semir could only gaze at his former apartment while standing outside the building in the driving rain. "I feel like I'm in a pastry shop, but I have no money and I'm very hungry," he told AP.

When several Muslim youths attempted drive into the western district, a crowd of Croats jeered and blocked the car. The vehicle then crashed into a tree. At least some of the Muslim youths were detained by Croat police as they tried to flee back across the bridge. One was reportedly first beaten by the crowd.

Croat police claimed Muslims may only cross on foot -- although such a restriction was not part of the Rome summit agreement.

A joint Muslim-Croat police force, along with some officers from Croatia and a small international civilian force, was supposed to begin patroling the city. However, patrols took place only in one district. Western diplomats say Croatian criminal gangs with ties to Croat police hold great power in Mostar's Croatian sector, and the gangs bitterly oppose reunification -- in part because it would cut black-market profits. Many other Croats in Herzegovina, including most of their leaders, vow they will accept nothing less than ethnically pure Croatian territory.

"We Serbs hate the Muslims, but the Croats ... wow!! ... do they hate the Muslims!!" one Serb soldier in nearby Serb-held territory told New Republic journalist Samantha Power.

Muslims, however, largely favor reunification. "The Croats burned down my flat and drove me away. Still, I could live with them again, with those who are decent," Emina Pajic, 47, told Reuters.

Croats rioted last week after Koschnick announced his plan to create 3 Croat, 3 Muslim, and one central mixed district. Croat nationalists said the central district actually had a Muslim majority.

Under the redrawn plan, the central district is smaller, although it still includes the airport, railway station, and water facilities. A landmark high school, formerly slated for a "Muslim" zone, has been included in the joint district, according to Reuters; some apartments were taken out and returned to the "Muslim" side.

Safet Orucevic, the mayor of the city's Muslim section, resigned after the Rome summit, BBC reports. However, AP said that Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic refused to accept the resignation. "The situation in Mostar was on the verge of clashes. We almost had war," Izetbegovic told a news conference Monday, Reuters reports. Bosnia's UN ambassador, Muhamed Sacirbey, recently called the situation in Mostar "the biggest danger to the peace process."

The southern Bosnian city was ethnically mixed before the war, but Croats swept through the western sector in 1993, driving its Muslims across the river into a ghetto and bombarding it with artillery fire.

PHASED SARAJEVO-SUBURB HANDOVER SET TO BEGIN FRIDAY. Vogosca is supposed to become the first of five suburbs to be completely handed over to Bosnian government control this Friday at 6 a.m., when 85 Bosnian police officers formally enter the district. The phased handover of the other districts -- Hadzici, Ilijas, Ilidza and Grbavica -- is scheduled to finish by March 20. This would end the siege of Sarajevo by giving Bosnian authorities control of major routes in and out of the capital.

A few Serb nationalist leaders -- including Milosevic ally Rajko Kasagic -- said Serbs should stay in the districts. But hardline Serb leaders who oppose a multi-ethnic city are ordering all Serbs to leave the five districts, despite pledges from the Bosnian government that civilians will be safe there. Serb nationalist media were also instructing people to leave.

"We must not allow a single Serb to stay in the regions that will revert to Muslim-Croat rule," Serb nationalist official Gojko Klickovic told the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA. Actually, thousands of Serbs remained in government-controlled Sarajevo throughout the war, in support of a multi-ethnic nation.

Serb officials Tuesday were removing piles of documents from Vogosca's town hall and setting them on fire, AP reports. Kris Janowski of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees accused Serb leaders of launching "a campaign of manipulation to get people out, to create a psychosis." He said there is no reason for the Serbs to flee, and the UN would not help them leave.

BBC Tuesday reported scenes of "panic" and "total confusion" in Vogosca, with Serbs desperate to leave before Bosnian police arrive. Serb nationalist authorities claim a massive evacuation will conclude this week in three days; but the Serb mayor there said it would be impossible to do so quickly.

Some of the fleeing Serbs fear retribution for the brutal four-year siege waged against Sarajevo center. "Others said this weekend they were under orders to go," AP reports. Still others are refugees living in homes of Muslims and Croats who were "ethnically cleansed" by Serb militia; the rightful owners are now expected to return. Some of the men leaving now vowed to return again one day by force.

Serb officials plan to resettle some of the new refugees in Srebrenica, which had a Muslim majority until it was overrun by Serb militia last summer. Thousands of Muslim men were massacred there, and other residents expelled; not a single Muslim remains in the town now, Western reporters say Other Serbs will reportedly be resettled in Bratunac, Srebenica, Zvornik, Pale, and Brcko. The fate of Brcko is still to be decided by international arbitration.

By quickly resettling tens of thousands more Serbs in homes of expelled Muslims, Serb authorities can prevent Muslim refugees from returning to those homes and cement the country's ethnic partition, BBC notes.

WAR PROPAGANDA A BITTER SUCCESS. "In Vogosca and other Serb-held suburbs of Sarajevo, people such as Mile, 22, genuinely believe the Orwellian doublespeak of their leaders: that Serbs were the victims in this war," writes Indira A.R. Lakshmanan in the Sunday Boston Globe.

"An elaborate propaganda machine has convinced many rebel Serbs that Muslims bombed themselves to gain sympathy. ... Similarly, Croat propagandists have tried to convince their people that the Muslims were the aggressors."

According to a U.S. Information Agency survey, two out of three Serbs and Croats cannot envision living peacefully with other ethnic groups. "As unlikely as it may seem, only the war's biggest victims, Muslims, seem eager to forgive and hopeful about forging a harmonious multi-ethnic state....

"Perhaps believing the lies of nationalist leaders is the only way for some Serbs and Croats to justify their complicity with a brutal war carried out in the name of separation and irreconciliable differences.

"Some Serbs and Croats need war crimes trials like the Germans needed Nuremberg -- to expose them to the bald, grotesque reality of what political and military leaders did in their name."

AMERICAN `SHOW OF FORCE' PUSHES SERBS OUT OF DMZ; GAINS ACCESS TO `SECRET' WEAPONS DEPOT. U.S. troops twice this week threatened Serb nationalists with artillery and airpower in order to demand compliance with the Dayton peace agreement. In both cases, Serbs complied and the showdowns were resolved peacefully.

At the Serbs' Han Pijesak underground military complex, where NATO troops had twice been refused access, Col. Andy Batiste finally told a Serb officer blocking his entry: "I want you to know that I am going in with or without your permission," the N.Y. Times reports. "I have above me air support. I have helicopters. I have artillery targeted right here where we are standing and we can use it if we have to." His Second Brigade was granted access to the site, and registered weapons there.

On Monday, "American troops, backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, forced Bosnian Serb tanks and armored vehicles to abandon front- line positions held in violation of the peace accord," AP reports.

Twenty-six tanks, 16 armored-personnel carriers, and army trucks were escorted out of what was supposed to be a demilitarized zone near Modrica, 45 miles north of Tuzla. Some weapons belonging to the Bosnian government -- which has much less hardware than the Serb nationalist army - -- were also removed.

`FOREIGN' FIGHTERS ARRESTED IN BOSNIA. NATO troops arrested 11 men, including 3 Iranians, on Bosnian government territory at a one-time ski chalet, where weapons and booby-trapped explosives were also found. NATO called the site "a training center for terrorism" and a "serious breach of the Dayton agreements." One Bosnian government official said the site was actually an anti-terrorist training center for its own forces.

Initial reports that the site contained specific plans to attack NATO targets were later admitted to be inaccurate, ABC-TV noted.

Under the Dayton accords, all foreign fighters -- including Iranians - -- were to have been expelled from the country. However, it is difficult for some in the Bosnian government to turn against them, since Iranians were willing to arm Bosnia, and fight and die for it. During the same time, the West enforced an arms embargo as the much-more-heavily-armed Serb army slaughtered thousands of defenseless Bosnian civilians.

Nevertheless, it's believed most of the several hundred Iranian fighters in Bosnia have already left. NATO has not acted on Bosnian government complaints that thousands of armed Serb fighters from Croatia remain in the country, continuing to terrorize Muslims and Croats in Serb-held territories, also in violation of Dayton's "foreign-fighters-out" provision.

BANOVICI REFUGEE CAMP SHUT DOWN BY ARSON. Arsonists again struck at a German-run tent camp for refugees in Banovici, 12 miles southwest of Tuzla, and it will be closed down. Residents will be moved to another site, which the German Humanitarian Foundation declined to name for safety reasons.

Those in the camp are survivors of ethnic cleansing in Srebrenica -- mostly women and children whose husbands and fathers were slaughtered by Serb forces.

Foundation head Uwe Breininger blames local gangsters, who had unsuccessfully sought to control aid distribution to the camp, for the fires.

DIVJAK UNDER PRESSURE TO RESIGN? Gen. Jovan Divjak, an ethnic Serb who helped lead the Bosnian government army, told the Bosnian weekly Svijet that he is being pressured to retire. While almost one-fifth of the army is not Muslim, critics say President Izetbegovic is trying to politicize it and turn the army into a power base for his political party.

E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION REQUESTS to [email protected] or find "This Week in Bosnia-Hercegovina" on the World Wide Web at http://world.std.com/~slm

--The Bosnia Action Coalition (Mass./NH)

Opinions expressed/published on BosNews/BosNet-B do NOT necessarily always reflect the views of (all of the members of) Editorial Board, and/or moderators, nor any of their host institutions.

Murat Erkocevic <[email protected]>

Dzevat Omeragic <[email protected]>

Davor Wagner <[email protected]>

Nermin Zukic <[email protected]>