SARAJEVO, Feb. 13 -- The U.N. forces commander in Bosnia- Herzegovina told Bosnian Serbs Monday he was concerned over renewed fighting in Bihac, where U.N. officials said Serbs seemed to be pulling in reinforcements. The commander of the peacekeeping forces, Gen. Rupert Smith, decided to send the letter after Bosnian Serb chief Gen. Ratko Mladic refused to meet him, a U.N. spokesman said. The spokesman said Mladic chose to attend a Serb leadership meeting instead of meeting the U.N. military official. In the letter, Smith expressed concern over renewed fighting in the Muslim enclave of Bihac, in northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina. The move came as U.N. officials reported that more than 900 Bosnian Serb soldiers returned overnight to Bosnia-Herzegovina from Croatia, apparently to strengthen forces attacking Muslim-led Bosnian government troops in Bihac. 'We now have proof that not just the rebel Muslims and (Croatian) Krajina Serbs are taking part in the military campaign southwest of the Bihac safe area and this is a very real threat to the peace process,' U.N. military spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Coward told United Press International. 'We also know that they (Serbs) are responsible for a breakout of hostilities in Bosanska Krupa,' he said. 'We think it is urgent to talk now, since the Bosnian government has already told us that until the situation in Bihac stabilizes they would not meet with the Bosnian Serbs' at joint military committees to review the Dec. 31 cessation of hostilities agreement, said Coward. Coward complained that the Bosnian government was using the Bihac fighting and looming humanitarian aid crisis, as a basis to stop the peace process.
Earlier in the day, Coward told a news conference in Sarajevo that U. N. military observers confirmed that about 900 Bosnian Serb Army troops were driven into the Bihac pocket aboard 32 buses and 12 trucks. The observers said more the Bosnian Serb soldiers were in the vehicles that crossed the border from the Serb-held Krajina region of Croatia, known as RSK. 'The BSA is conducting ground maneuvers to the south and southwest of Bihac, and we believe these two BSA brigades are merely reinforcements moving through RSK territory,' said Coward. Coward said the Bosnian Serb troop had been forced to leave Bosnian territory south of the confrontation line and have now reentered at a point further north. 'What we assume has happened is that the Serbs have had to loop around the Muslim line in order to attack it from other side,' said Coward. Bitter fighting entered its fourth straight day southwest of Bihac, as the two sides struggle for control of the Bihac pocket, a U.N.- declared 'safe area' in northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina. 'More than 500 shells were detonated during the Sunday reporting period. Although the area remains active today, we are seeing a markedly reduced level of fighting from the weekend. And in Bosanska Krupa overnight only eight detonations were recorded,' said Coward. In a puzzling incident at Tuzla airport on Sunday, the sound of jet aircraft broke the evening stillness, as U.N. military observers reported hearing one fast jet and one cargo-type aircraft. Coward said the UNMOS made a 'positive sighting' at 8:15 p.m. over the Tuzla area, 60 miles (100 km) northeast of Sarajevo, and another three aircraft were spotted a short while later. 'The ground observations were passed along to NATO which launched a ground alert patrol, but neither that patrol nor AWACS could confirm the sightings,' said Coward. 'I am at a loss to say, why AWACS would not pick up fast-moving high-flying jets as these. I just don't understand it,' said Coward. Meanwhile, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees resumed operations at Sarajevo airport Monday morning, following a two-day suspension caused by overloaded cargo bays. 'The French ground personnel at the airport found alternative storage for the aid as it comes in, so until we have permanently solved our local staff problem, we can operate at near normal levels for up to two weeks,' said UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski. The humanitarian airlift was canceled over the weekend because of a local crisis involving the arrest of a Bosnian Serb employee of the UNHCR. The woman, who is in Bosnian government's custody charged with spying, was arrested Thursday outside the U.N. headquarters in Sarajevo, in what U.N. officials believe was retaliation for the Bosnian Serb arrest nearly three weeks ago of a Sarajevo television journalist. Janowski said the decision was made to order all local UNHCR employees to stay home to avoid any Bosnian Serb retaliation for the latest arrest. Among the local employees told to stay home are truck drivers who must cross Serb-held territory when taking humanitarian aid from the airport to a warehouse in Sarajevo. (edited by Nesho Djuric in Belgrade)
