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: Troops fight as leaders negotiate Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 13:27:07 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Troops fight as leaders negotiate \BY REUTERS \DT SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (Reuters) - Military commanders of Bosnia's three warring sides met across a negotiating table yesterday while their troops fought on throughout the former Yugoslav republic. Leaders of Serbian, Muslim and Croatian forces met at Sarajevo's shell-battered airport for a closed-door meeting headed by the U.N. peacekeeping force commander, Gen. Philippe Morillon. It was the second encounter of the three sides organized by the United Nations as a means of reducing tensions and ending seven months of bloodshed that has killed thousands and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes. The leaders were expected to discuss practical ways of ensuring water and electricity to the Bosnian capital, which has been surrounded by Serbian fighters since April. U.N. officials called the talks a breakthrough. But neither yesterday's meeting nor a first, five-hour session Friday had any visible effect on fighting in Sarajevo or other towns. Heavy shelling rocked Sarajevo's western suburb of Stup around midday and mortar rounds rained down on a district near the U.N. headquarters in the city, wounding five persons. The western Dobrinja suburb was also a target for heavy fire during the morning. At least five persons were wounded by a single mortar round, four of them seriously. Sarajevo radio also reported a fresh artillery bombardment of the key town of Jajce, which it said was still under Muslim control. Bosnia's Serbs claimed earlier yesterday that they were poised to take Jajce. But Croatian radio denied this, saying gunmen defending it launched a "decisive counterattack." The fall of Jajce would be a major blow for Bosnia's Muslims, who are the largest, but weakest, group in the former Yugoslav republic. Muslims and Croats - supposed allies against the Serbs - have now turned on each other in several areas, wreaking further havoc among the ethnically mixed population. If Jajce falls to the Serbs, and Croatian fighters succeed in capturing nearby Travnik, the mainly Muslim forces loyal to the Bosnian presidency would be squeezed out of a large chunk of territory in the center of their newly independent country. While U.N. peacekeepers in Sarajevo tried to keep military leaders talking on the ground in Sarajevo, international mediators in Geneva said they were ready to present their idea of a draft constitution for Bosnia today. Diplomats said mediators wanted to head off a division of Bosnia by Croats and Serbs in which Muslims would lose out. Some 300 people are reported to have been killed in and around Travnik during fighting between Muslims and Croats over the past few days. But Bosnian radio said clashes between Muslims and Croats abated in Prozor, Novi Travnik and Vitez - each the scene of heavy Muslim-Croatian fighting over the past few days. The Belgrade-based news agency Tanjug said there was a lull in fighting around the town of Trebinje in southern Herzegovina after several days of fierce clashes. But it said there was bitter fighting around the strategically important northern town of Gradacac, still held by Muslims. 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