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Opposing forces meet on fate of residents trapped by fighting

ZAGREB, Croatia -- Representatives of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army and the Croatian forces met Tuesday in the seaside town of Cavtat for European Community-brokered negotiations on the fate of some 3,000 residents trapped by renewed fighting on a strip of Adriatic coast south of Dubrovnik.

The talks came amid reports of skirmishes pitting Yugoslav army and Serbian militia units against Croatian fighters in the mountainous hinterlands between the outskirts of Dubrovnik and the nearby Bosnia- Hercegovina border.

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The discussions, brokered by EC monitors, focused on the plight of people trapped in the Yugoslav army-held town of Cavtat, located just across a bay from Dubrovniuk, and the surrounding Konavli region, a 40- mile strip of coastline.

EC-sponsored negotiations between the warring factions on military issues have broken off, with no new meetings scheduled.

Cavtat surrendered to Yugoslav troops shortly after the communist Serb-led military launched on Oct. 1 a blistering tank-backed drive through Konavli to the steep mountains surrounding Dubrovnik.

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Residents of the famed Adriatic resort spent an 11th day in shelters, although Serbian bombardments of its 14th century walled city ended late Monday, a Croatian military statement said.

The barrages that caused new damage to what was considered one of Europe's best preserved medieval fortress coincided with a fifth day of Croatia artillery attacks on Trebinje, a major stronghold of Yugoslav army-armed Serbian militia groups just inside Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Croatian radio said more than 50 shells were fired from the Trebinje area onDubrovnik. Officials at Dubrovnik hospital said a 15-year-old boy was killed and two other people were wounded.

Serious fighting erupted in the Dubrovnik area several weeks ago, apparently as Croatian forces moved to take control of area near Dubrovnik vacated by the Yugoslav army, which halted its withdrawal near Cavtat.

Croatian officials in Zagreb vowed that their forces would regain all of the areas still held by Serbian troops between Cavtat and the borders of Bosnia-Hercegovina and Montenegro.

'Croatian units will advance until we regain every step of our territory,' said Croatian government spokesman Miso Mihocevich.

The Serb-dominated Yugoslav army agreed to withdraw from all areas of Croatia, including the Dubrovnik region, under a U.N. plan to halt the war that erupted in the republic after it declared independence from former Yugoslavia almost a year ago.

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'It seems Croatia is prepared for a forcible solution when it found out the Yugoslav army had no intention to withdraw immediately from Croatian territory,' said Diether Woltman, the chief of the EC monitoring mission office in the central Adriatic port of Split.

The clashes around Dubrovnik, which have included fierce exchanges of rocket and artillery fire, violated a Jan. 3 ceasefire the warring factions signed as the main condition for the 14,000-man U.N. peacekeeping operation, which is now in full swing in four areas of Croatia.

Residents of Dubrovnik were trying to cope without electricity or mail, little water, and only a few shops open selling bread.

'Out of 32 Dubrovnik hotels, there are only four left,' said Ivo Milos, secretary of Dubrovnik's water polo club, describing the battles of the past 10 days. 'All other facilities do not exist.'

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