SARAJEVO -- The West stepped up pressure Monday on rebel Serbs who are holding nearly 370 UN peacekeepers hostage in Bosnia, sending thousands more troops to the war-torn republic and trying to salvage the confused United Nations mission there.
European Union foreign ministers assembled in Brussels to debate the next step, as the United States called for a beefed-up UN presence in Bosnia and the UN promised new proposals to revamp the mission within 24 hours. Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, en route to The Hague for a meeting with his U.S., British, French and German counterparts, issued Moscow's strongest condemnation yet of the treatment of UN peacekeepers.
"Russia can no longer tolerate barbarity as regards to peacekeepers in Bosnia," Kozyrev said, leaving Moscow, adding that NATO air raids had done nothing but aggravate the situation.
But the Serbs showed no signs of releasing hostages, insisting that they get promises there will be no more military action like the NATO air raids against Serb ammunition dumps last Thursday and Friday. General Ratko Mladic did however say he had stopped chaining hostages to potential targets.
Frustrated UN officials pleaded for instructions from a world community vacillating between outrage at the Serbs' defiance and reluctance to be sucked into the Balkan carnage.
"We hope that we will get some guidance and backing," UN spokesman Alexander Ivanko said Sunday. "A lot of thought will have to go into our next step, because it will probably be the most important step the international community makes in this century."
In Brussels, the European Union was close Monday to backing a tougher military role for peacekeepers in Bosnia coupled with help from the president of rump Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosovic, to isolate Bosnian Serbs even more.
The 15 EU foreign ministers debated issuing a statement supporting "the reinforcement measures necessary to give [UN peacekeepers] freedom of movement," according to a French draft of the text.
It said this was required to assure the security of the peacekeeping force and "to allow it to carry out its task."
Also, the EU backs "diplomatic efforts under way to allow for the mutual recognition" of Bosnia and Yugoslavia, said the draft. But there was no immediate word of any plan to free the 367 UN "human shields" held hostage at military installations by Bosnian Serb forces.
France appealed to its EU partners for a tougher mandate for the UN peacekeepers. French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette told reporters the force must have "the means to respond if provoked" by Bosnian Serb forces.
Many French troops are among some 370 UN soldiers seized by Bosnian Serbs since Thursday.
France sent an aircraft carrier Sunday to the region and told its troops to respond with "any means" to Serb attacks. Two thousand U.S. Marines were being positioned to the Adriatic Sea, where the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt was headed, said Lieutenant Colonel Michael Wood of the U.S. Army.
On Sunday, Britain, which has 3,380 troops in the UN force, put an extra 6,200 troops on alert for deployment to Bosnia.
Lead elements of a 105mm gun battery from 19 Field Regiment, including six guns, are expected to fly to the Croatian port of Split on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.
The battery is likely to be ready for operations by Friday at the latest, the ministry said. More reinforcements will follow within three weeks.
The Bosnian Army reported moves to stymie the introduction of new troops. It said Serbs unleashed heavy artillery attacks at the main road that connects Split with Sarajevo -- the route Western troops being dispatched toward Sarajevo would use. The UN could not confirm the report.
Bosnian Serb forces also boosted their arsenal with tanks and other armor seized from their hostages. UN officials said they had appropriated 36 UN armored vehicles, including six light tanks.
After chairing the EU meeting, de Charette headed to The Hague for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Kozyrev. German, British and Spanish ministers also took part.
Personnel on the ground in Sarajevo were unimpressed with the dispatch of more troops, urging a quick and unified decision on what to do.
"Unless there is a coherent political and military strategy, they might as well send pigeons," said a UN military official, who asked not to be identified.
But pressure for action mounted with the Serb capture of 33 Britons on Sunday near the eastern Moslem enclave of Gorazde.
The possibility that Serbs would take lightly armed UN peacekeepers hostage had prevented the UN from asking NATO to intervene against the Serbs for months.
When NATO did carry out its first air strikes since November on Thursday and Friday, the Serbs' response was swift and brutal.
Serbs shelled the northern city of Tuzla and other areas nominally under UN protection, killing 76 civilians. At the same time they moved against the peacekeepers, seizing hostages and chaining some of them to ammunition dumps and other potential targets of NATO air strikes.
By nightfall Sunday, the Bosnian Serbs were holding 367 peacekeepers hostage, said Ivanko. Among the worst off were 22 French peacekeepers just north of Sarajevo who took refuge from the Serbs in three armored personnel carriers Sunday, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gary Coward said. It was not known if they had any water or food, he said.
By Monday morning, the Serbs had five light UN tanks and 15 armored personnel vehicles in their hands, Coward added.
More than 200 Serb heavy weapons were on the loose around the city after UN collection points for such arms effectively ceased to exist.
Bosnia's foreign minister, Irfan Ljubijankic, died early Sunday when a missile shot down his helicopter as it flew over Serb positions near Bihac, Bosnian and UN officials said.
The helicopter crashed on territory held by Croatian Serbs just west of the Bosnian-Croatian border, said UN spokesman Major William Taylor.
The Croatian Serbs claimed responsibility.
The foreign minister, who was born in Bihac, was the most senior Bosnian government official killed in more than three years of war.
European Union foreign ministers assembled in Brussels to debate the next step, as the United States called for a beefed-up UN presence in Bosnia and the UN promised new proposals to revamp the mission within 24 hours. Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, en route to The Hague for a meeting with his U.S., British, French and German counterparts, issued Moscow's strongest condemnation yet of the treatment of UN peacekeepers.
"Russia can no longer tolerate barbarity as regards to peacekeepers in Bosnia," Kozyrev said, leaving Moscow, adding that NATO air raids had done nothing but aggravate the situation.
But the Serbs showed no signs of releasing hostages, insisting that they get promises there will be no more military action like the NATO air raids against Serb ammunition dumps last Thursday and Friday. General Ratko Mladic did however say he had stopped chaining hostages to potential targets.
Frustrated UN officials pleaded for instructions from a world community vacillating between outrage at the Serbs' defiance and reluctance to be sucked into the Balkan carnage.
"We hope that we will get some guidance and backing," UN spokesman Alexander Ivanko said Sunday. "A lot of thought will have to go into our next step, because it will probably be the most important step the international community makes in this century."
In Brussels, the European Union was close Monday to backing a tougher military role for peacekeepers in Bosnia coupled with help from the president of rump Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosovic, to isolate Bosnian Serbs even more.
The 15 EU foreign ministers debated issuing a statement supporting "the reinforcement measures necessary to give [UN peacekeepers] freedom of movement," according to a French draft of the text.
It said this was required to assure the security of the peacekeeping force and "to allow it to carry out its task."
Also, the EU backs "diplomatic efforts under way to allow for the mutual recognition" of Bosnia and Yugoslavia, said the draft. But there was no immediate word of any plan to free the 367 UN "human shields" held hostage at military installations by Bosnian Serb forces.
France appealed to its EU partners for a tougher mandate for the UN peacekeepers. French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette told reporters the force must have "the means to respond if provoked" by Bosnian Serb forces.
Many French troops are among some 370 UN soldiers seized by Bosnian Serbs since Thursday.
France sent an aircraft carrier Sunday to the region and told its troops to respond with "any means" to Serb attacks. Two thousand U.S. Marines were being positioned to the Adriatic Sea, where the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt was headed, said Lieutenant Colonel Michael Wood of the U.S. Army.
On Sunday, Britain, which has 3,380 troops in the UN force, put an extra 6,200 troops on alert for deployment to Bosnia.
Lead elements of a 105mm gun battery from 19 Field Regiment, including six guns, are expected to fly to the Croatian port of Split on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.
The battery is likely to be ready for operations by Friday at the latest, the ministry said. More reinforcements will follow within three weeks.
The Bosnian Army reported moves to stymie the introduction of new troops. It said Serbs unleashed heavy artillery attacks at the main road that connects Split with Sarajevo -- the route Western troops being dispatched toward Sarajevo would use. The UN could not confirm the report.
Bosnian Serb forces also boosted their arsenal with tanks and other armor seized from their hostages. UN officials said they had appropriated 36 UN armored vehicles, including six light tanks.
After chairing the EU meeting, de Charette headed to The Hague for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Kozyrev. German, British and Spanish ministers also took part.
Personnel on the ground in Sarajevo were unimpressed with the dispatch of more troops, urging a quick and unified decision on what to do.
"Unless there is a coherent political and military strategy, they might as well send pigeons," said a UN military official, who asked not to be identified.
But pressure for action mounted with the Serb capture of 33 Britons on Sunday near the eastern Moslem enclave of Gorazde.
The possibility that Serbs would take lightly armed UN peacekeepers hostage had prevented the UN from asking NATO to intervene against the Serbs for months.
When NATO did carry out its first air strikes since November on Thursday and Friday, the Serbs' response was swift and brutal.
Serbs shelled the northern city of Tuzla and other areas nominally under UN protection, killing 76 civilians. At the same time they moved against the peacekeepers, seizing hostages and chaining some of them to ammunition dumps and other potential targets of NATO air strikes.
By nightfall Sunday, the Bosnian Serbs were holding 367 peacekeepers hostage, said Ivanko. Among the worst off were 22 French peacekeepers just north of Sarajevo who took refuge from the Serbs in three armored personnel carriers Sunday, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gary Coward said. It was not known if they had any water or food, he said.
By Monday morning, the Serbs had five light UN tanks and 15 armored personnel vehicles in their hands, Coward added.
More than 200 Serb heavy weapons were on the loose around the city after UN collection points for such arms effectively ceased to exist.
Bosnia's foreign minister, Irfan Ljubijankic, died early Sunday when a missile shot down his helicopter as it flew over Serb positions near Bihac, Bosnian and UN officials said.
The helicopter crashed on territory held by Croatian Serbs just west of the Bosnian-Croatian border, said UN spokesman Major William Taylor.
The Croatian Serbs claimed responsibility.
The foreign minister, who was born in Bihac, was the most senior Bosnian government official killed in more than three years of war.
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