ZAGREB, June 18 -- United Nations relief officials expressed fears Saturday that Bosnian Serbs may have entered the final phase of their 'ethnic cleansing' campaign in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina.
'It is sort of like the final solution,' said Gregory Austreng, a U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees official.
'Muslims and Croats are being beaten up, kicked out of their villages and now bused out of Bosnia.'
OnTuesday, Bosnian Serbs evacuated 462 Muslims and Croats from the Bosnian Serb-controlled Banja Luka region in neighboring Bosnia, 90 miles (145 km) southeast of the Croatian capital of Zagreb.
According to UNHCR officials, Bosnian Serbs promised the group they would be resettled next week in Sweden. But the eight busloads, which included 110 children, were simply dumped without papers at the edge of Serb-held territory in Croatia.
'These people were duped,' said Austreng. 'And now they can't go back and they can't stay where they are.'
Although thousands of non-Serbs have fled Bosnian Serb persecution in recent months, previous evacuations were arranged with advanced approval from U.N. or Croatian authorities.
The refugees spent four nights in tents under U.N. protection because the Croatian government has refused to grant them transit visas. International law requires the country of first asylum to admit persons seeking refuge, but Croatian officials say they are already caring for over 500,000 refugees and can not absorb any more.
U.N. officials and Western diplomats disagree. 'Croatia has an obligation to accept refugees,' said a Western diplomat. 'That is what sets civilized countries apart from the place these people fled, which is run by savages and killers,' said the diplomat who preferred to remain anonymous.
