Serbs hijack UN aid convoy

BOSNIAN Serbs near the Muslim enclave of Gorazde in eastern Bosnia yesterday attacked a United Nations aid convoy, killing a local driver and forcing British UN soldiers escorting the lorries to return fire. The UN protested to the Bosnian Serb leaders and considered - but rejected - the use of air strikes, officials in Sarajevo said. The incident will fuel fears that the Bosnian Serbs are reverting to a policy of harassing the UN.

In Sarajevo, talks between the UN and the Bosnian government on the status of a demilitarised zone west of the city broke down after the government refused to withdraw its troops from the area. 'The talks terminated after Vice-President (Ejup) Ganic declined to comply with the DMZ (demilitarised zone) agreement of August 1993 and refused to withdraw 500 or so Bosnian troops from the zone,' said Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Spicer, spokesman for the UN Protection Force (Unprofor) in Bosnia.

Mr Ganic said talks had ended when Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Rose, the UN commander in Bosnia, stormed out of the meeting. 'He walked out after I told him that Bosnia-Herzegovina is a sovereign country and that he had to respect that fact,' he said.

The clash between UN forces and the Bosnian Serbs took place when a convoy of three food lorries, accompanied by two British Saxon armoured vehicles, came under fire from the Bosnian Serbs at midday at a village near Gorazde.

Although the Saxon commander considered asking for air support, he decided against, Major Koos Sol, for Unprofor, said. 'It could be three people behind a tree, and there is not really a usable target to find.'

Colm Murphy, a top UN official, protested to Nikola Koljevic, president of the Bosnian Serb assembly. Serbian commanders near Gorazde later issued guarantees to let British peace-keepers recover the aid lorries. But they came under fire a second time. The troops recovered one lorry but left the others.

The convoy, under the auspices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was driven by Bosnians, one of whom was killed. 'We view the incident with extreme concern, particularly because it comes only one day after a convoy was hijacked and looted by the Bosnian Serbs,' said Kris Janowski, UNHCR spokesman in Sarajevo.

On Monday, Bosnian Serbs held up five UN lorries carrying medical supplies at a checkpoint near Sarajevo airport and forced the drivers at gunpoint to unload them. French peace-keepers at the checkpoint did little to stop the incident, prompting criticism from UN officials.