Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Latest cease-fire brings Sarajevo tinge of normalcy Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 15:07:56 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Latest cease-fire brings Sarajevo tinge of normalcy \BY David Crary \CR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - The latest cease-fire in Sarajevo has been the most successful, bringing strollers to the sidewalks, children out to play and garbage men back to their rounds. But some snipers keep shooting, some civilians keep dying, and predictions of lasting peace are hard to find. "Maybe, just maybe, this is a bit more serious than the others," Nada Rill, 72, said yesterday. "But don't forget, we've had 17 cease-fires before." While residents enjoyed the lull in fighting, military leaders of Bosnia's three warring factions met to evaluate the cease-fire, which has had mixed success in the outlying reaches of Bosnia-Herzegovina. U.N. officials believe this truce is working better than the others because it was agreed to by military, not political, leaders. For the moment, people are taking advantage of what by Sarajevo standards amounts to peace - minimal artillery bombardment and sporadic sniper fire. Since the cease-fire took effect Thursday, 13 Sarajevans have been killed and 98 wounded, according to hospital officials - far below average. "You see more people in the streets, children going out a bit more," said Manuel Fontaine, a UNICEF official. "For us, it's easier. We can do much more in a day, distributing food and clothes." Workers for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees seized the opportunity with a long-planned campaign to clean up the city's festering piles of trash. The UNHCR provided five vehicles of its own and fuel for 60 other garbage trucks, with armored escorts. "This is a super opportunity - long may it last," said UNHCR official Larry Hollingsworth. "It accelerates and expands everything we're doing." He said relief convoys have been able to reach Sarajevo from the southwest, on the road from Mostar, more easily and frequently during the cease-fire. Maj. Brian Jackson, a Canadian with the U.N. peacekeeping force, said engineers have been trying to accelerate repairs of Sarajevo's electric power and water systems. But, he said, "there are still certain areas where our guys get fired at, and other areas where there's fighting." The cease-fire has coincided with the first large-scale effort to evacuate women, children and the elderly from Sarajevo. Almost 1,500 Serbs and Croats were bused out on Sunday. [The United Nations Security Council in New York last night called on governments to stop and search ships in the Adriatic and along the Danube River to prevent contraband from reaching Yugoslavia in violation of U.N. sanctions. [The vote on the resolution tightening sanctions against the Yugoslav federation of Serbia and Montenegro was 13-0 with China and Zimbabwe abstaining. [In an effort to plug loopholes in the embargo, the resolution also decrees that a long list of commodities and goods including oil, coal, metals, rubber, engines and tires, may not be transshiped through Serbia and Montenegro unless the Security Council's sanctions committee has been notified.] This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM