Balkan parties agree to cease-fire

Beleaguered Bosnians doubtful

October 11, 1995

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- After a tense 48-hour delay, Bosnia's warring factions agreed Wednesday to begin a cease-fire, according to the United Nations. But the people on the ground are likely to believe it only when they see it.

U.S. officials confirmed the freshly minted agreement, which is set to go into effect one minute after midnight local time Thursday (2301 GMT Wednesday). The cease-fire had been scheduled to go into effect Monday evening, but was pushed back when the Bosnian government declared that essential demands had gone unmet.

As a cease-fire precondition, the Bosnian government had insisted that gas and electricity be restored to the besieged capital of Sarajevo. U.N. personnel and Bosnian Serbs worked to make the Monday deadline, but could restore only some electrical power to the city.

The Bosnian government said "no deal" and the deadline was stretched another 24 hours. By Tuesday, more electricity was restored and gas began to trickle into Sarajevo. But Bosnian government officials balked again, saying the deal had been for complete restoration of utilities to the city. Finally, after long hours of negotiating, U.N. official Antonio Pedauye announced the truce Wednesday.

Bosnian government minister Hasan Muratovic blames the recurrent snags on the status of Sarajevo. He said that gas was up to full pressure on Wednesday and electrical services continued to improve. However, Bosnian Serbs said government's true motive is that it wants to grab as much land as possible before the truce, a contention seconded by the United Nations.

The Bosnian government's powerful offensive reportedly captured the northwestern town of Sanski Most on Wednesday, sending up to 30,000 Serb refugees out of the area. Serbs also lost the key town of Mrkonjic Grad. (115K AIFF sound or 115K WAV sound) The fall of Mrkonjic Grad, which lies just 25 miles south of their stronghold Banja Luka, represents a major defeat for the Serbs.

Simultaneously, thousands of non-Serbs have been driven out of northern Bosnia in brutal campaigns. U.N. High Commission for Refugees spokesman Chris Janowski said one family was slaughtered in cold blood while trying to understand instructions for leaving their home near Banja Luka. (218K AIFF sound or 218K WAV sound) In Sanski Most, Janowski said, Bosnian Serb soldiers had held knives to the throats of children. (148K AIFF sound or 148K WAV sound)

There also have been reports of Croat atrocities against Serb citizens in Croatia's Krajina region. The Croats reclaimed the area from Serb occupation earlier this year, but some Serb citizens, mostly the infirm and elderly, remain.

(135K AIFF sound or 135K WAV sound from funeral of U.N. peacekeeper killed in Serb shelling attack earlier this week.)

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