BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA/CROATIA: UNITED NATIONS (U.N) CONDEMN BURNING OF HOMES IN REGION TO BE HANDED BACK TO SERB RULE

Record ID: 337676

  • Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA/CROATIA: UNITED NATIONS (U.N) CONDEMN BURNING OF HOMES IN REGION TO BE HANDED BACK TO SERB RULE
  • Date: 10th December 1995
  • Summary: ZAGREB, CROATIA/MRKONJIC GRAD, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA/ SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA/KOPRIVNICA, CROATIA (DECEMBER 10 & 11, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) MRKONJIC GRAD, BOSNIA (DECEMBER 10, 1995) 1. GV/VARIOUS NIGHT VIEWS OF HOUSES BURNING (5 SHOTS) 0.19 (DAY) 2. TRACK BRITISH UNITED NATIONS TROOPS DRIVING THROUGH MRKONJIC GRAD 0.3
  • Embargoed: 25th December 1995 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MRKONJIC GRAD, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA/ZAGREB, CROATIA/SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA/KOPRIVNICA, CROATIA
  • City:
  • Country: Croatia
  • Reuters ID: LVADZ303T7F620DSE8KUSTI6YY21
  • Story Text: Five British Warrior tanks of the 2nd Battalion Light Infantry were temporarily denied access by Bosnian Croat military police to their forward base at a bus depot in Mrkonjic Grad, Bosnia on Sunday (December 10).

    Military police stopped the five armoured personnel carriers late on Sunday as they tried to pass through Mrkonjic Grad, which Croats have been burning and systematically looting because the Dayton peace deal returns it to Serb rule. According to the United Nations (U.N.), some 20 houses were burning near the town of Sipovo, near Mrkonjic Grad on Sunday.

    U.N. spokesman Philip Arnot said the burnings were deliberate, and that the U.N. condemns the action, and also the blocking of United Nations troops.

    The tanks were forced to return to a shoe factory in Mrkonjic Grad, 10 kms (six miles) south of their planned destination. The tanks were later allowed to pass through the checkpoint after a hold-up which the U.N. blamed on misunderstanding.

    Major Chris Booth said he believed their restriction was due to bad lines of communication between Bosnian Croat commanders in the area to their troops on the ground. Booth said he did not foresee this as a problem once North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Implementation Force troops are deployed in the area on December 19.

    The 2nd Light Infantry, who have been based in Vitez and on Mount Igman as part of the Rapid Reaction Force, were on a two-day journey surveying their forward bases at Bihac, Sanski Most and in the Mrkonjic Grad area.

    Hundreds of Bosnians marched through the streets of Sarajevo on Monday (December 11), just one day before Bosnian Serbs are due to hold a referendum on the peace agreement initialled last month in Dayton, Ohio.

    About 500 Bosnians attended the rally carrying banners calling for peace and listened to speakers.

    Many of the demonstrators were Bosnian refugees expelled from their homes in the Bosnian Serb held suburbs of Sarajevo.

    United States' NATO planes continued to bring military equipment into Sarajevo on Monday. A C 130 carrying logistical material landed shortly before midday.

    Earlier in the day United Nations (U.N.) force commander General Bernard Janvier arrived, followed by U.N. chief of mission Antonio Padauye.

    Newly-appointed EU Special Envoy Garcia Vargas also arrived on Monday for talks with Bosnian politicians on the implementation of the peace plan and the European Union's administration of Mostar.

    The first two trains carrying U.S. troops and equipment from bases in Germany to join the NATO peace implementation force in Bosnia arrived in Koprivnica, Croatia early on Monday morning.

    The equipment on board, army vehicles and communication gear from the U.S. Army's 72nd Signal Battalion, is due to be used for communications networks in Croatia and Bosnia.


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