SARAJEVO, Dec. 28 -- NATO's peace Implementation Force troops patrolled a 1.2-mile (2 km) separation zone in Sarajevo Thursday after Bosnian Serb and government forces withdrew from key positions around the Bosnian capital. The first hurdle toward implementing the Dayton peace accord has been cleared, NATO officials in Sarajevo said. Both the Bosnian Muslims and Serbs met a midnight deadline to pull back their military forces from around Sarajevo, creating a 1.2-mile (2- km) zone of separation, officials said. The empty corridors that crisscross the Bosnian capital were quickly filled with French, British and U.S. I-FOR troops, intent on making sure the areas remain untenable as battle zones and that the factions don't return. 'We believe all of NATO's objectives were achieved, and we will be patrolling these 20 or so locations to make sure they are free and the parties don't come back,' said NATO spokesman Col. Rob Rayner. Despite a driving snow storm that left a thick layer across Sarajevo and central Bosnia Wednesday, the troops quickly left bunkers, shelters, trenches and barracks on Sarajevo's notorious front lines, which for more than 3 1/2 years sent the thunder of artillery echoing across the world. Speaking aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Adriatic Sea, NATO's southern flank commander Adm. Leighton Smith, acknowledged that bigger challenges lie ahead, principally keeping Sarajevo's estimated 70,000 Serbs from fleeing ahead of the city's scheduled reintegration within the next 30 days. 'We know that Sarajevo would be a big problem, so we will take the appropriate steps to make the Serbs there feel secure,' said Smith.
The Serbs have requested an extension, fearing mass panic among their people. Smith is considering the request, but said the request would be denied if such an extension had an overall negative effect on the peace implementation. 'It would be irresponsible and reckless to make such a decision,' he said during an earlier visit to the Serb self-styled capital of Pale, 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Sarajevo. Meanwhile, in Washington the Pentagon said it would send two counter- fire radar systems to Sarajevo at the request of the French. The system would better spot incoming artillery and mortar fire as well as pinpoint firing points. Smith had granted the French request. Harsh winter conditions and flooding have been causing problems to the U.S.-led I-FOR troops across Bosnia. South of Sarajevo, flash floods swept through the Mostar area, where French troops have logistics bases. The banks of the swollen Neretva River overflowed, turning 60 French troops' camp into a a perilous island. Helicopters were called in to take the soldiers to safety. The French camp, which lies in the lowlands north of Mostar, was flooded after a dam burst. Officials are concerned that a second dam may also break because it is under extreme pressure. The high water also caused problems for U.S. troops trying to deploy into Bosnia from Croatia over the Sava River. Driving rain and the swollen river made it difficult to throw pontoon bridges across the Sava to allow 5,000 troops in Croatia and Hungary to move into Bosnia. 'The first troops may make it across either late Friday or early Saturday,' said U.S. Maj. Gen. William Nash, in the northeastern Bosnian town of Tuzla. Rising water has forced a temporary halt to U.S. deployment of about 1,000 troops in Croatia. The troops had to evacuate their tent city on the banks of the Sava and retreat to hotel rooms and drier quarters in the nearby town of Zupanja.
