VARIOUS: FIGHTING IN BOSNIA CONTINUES WHILE NEGOTIATIONS ON EASTERN SLAVONIA MAKE PROGRESS

Record ID: 376055

  • Title: VARIOUS: FIGHTING IN BOSNIA CONTINUES WHILE NEGOTIATIONS ON EASTERN SLAVONIA MAKE PROGRESS
  • Date: 2nd October 1995
  • Summary: VUCJA PLANINA (MOUNTAIN) NEAR TESLIC, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA/ BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA/ ERDUT, EASTERN SLAVONIA, CROATIA (OCTOBER 2 and 3, 1995) (RTV AND AGENCY POOL - ACCESS ALL) VUCJA PLANINA (OCTOBER 2, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV BOSNIAN SERB SOLDIERS WITH CAPTURED MOSLEM ARMOURED VEHICLES (2 SHOTS) 0.25 2. SLV/SV DESTROYED MOSLEM ANTI AIRCRAFT GUN / SLV TANK ON FIRE (4 SHOTS) 0.44 3. SV BOSNIAN SERB SOLDIER HOLDING SHELL / CU SHELL SHOWING ARABIC WRITING (2 SHOTS) 0.54 4. SLV BOSNIAN SERB SOLDIERS WALKING THROUGH TRENCHES (2 SHOTS) 1.08 5. SLV BOSNIAN SERB SOLDIERS COMING UNDER FIRE AND GOING FOR SHELTER (2 SHOTS) 1.25 6. SLV BOSNIAN SERB SOLDIERS ABOARD ARMOURED VEHICLE WITH CAPTURED BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT FLAG (2 SHOTS) 1.35 BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (OCTOBER 3, 1995) (AGENCY POOL - ACCESS ALL) 7. SLV U.S. ENVOY RICHARD HOLBROOKE ENTERS PRESIDENCY FOR TALKS WITH YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SOLBODAN MILOSEVIC 1.46 8. SV HOLBROOKE SPEAKING AFTER TALKS (ENGLISH) 2.19 9. TRACK NIGHT HOLBROOKE'S CAR LEAVING 2.29 ERDUT, CROATIA (OCTOBER 3, 1995) (AGENCY POOL - ACCESS ALL) 10.SV U.N. GUARD OUTSIDE MEETING ROOM 2.31 11.SV HRVOJE SARINIC, CHIEF OF CABINET OF THE CROATIAN PRESIDENT FRANJO TUDJMAN, AND DEPUTY DEFENCE MINISTER OF RSK (SELF-STYLED REPUBLIC OF KRAJINA) MILAN MILANOVIC SHAKING HANDS / GALBRAITH AND STOLTENBERG ALSO PRESENT 2.54 12.SV MEETING IN PROGRESS (3 SHOTS) 3.08 SEQUENCE 8 HOLBROOKE: "WE'VE CONTINUED OUR DISCUSSIONS TODAY, AND ONCE AGAIN, I CAN ONLY SAY THAT WE'RE PRODUCTIVE, THEY'VE BEEN USEFUL, BUT WE HAVE NOTHING NEW TO ANNOUNCE. THERE HAS, HOWEVER, BEEN A MAJOR NEW DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN SLAVONIA, IN THE NEGOTIATIONS AMBASSADOR GALBRAITH AND THOR STOLTENBERG OF THE UN HAVE BEEN CONDUCTING. AND WE ARE TURNING TO ZAGREB NOW TO CONSULT WITH THEM, GET UPDATED, AND WE'LL HAVE MORE TO SAY WHEN WE GET TO ZAGREB." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 17th October 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VUCJA PLANINA (MOUNTAIN) NEAR TESLIC, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA/ BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA/ ERDUT, CROATIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVA9660H02XVWE2F872QXU7RRAEB
  • Story Text: Shuttle diplomacy by United States (U.S.) envoy Richard Holbrooke and a tentative step towards a Serb-Croat peace deal for the Eastern Slavonia region in Croatia were overshadowed on Tuesday (October 3) by continuing bloodshed.

    Peace prospects faced bloody new challenges as Bosnian troops bombarded Serb forces around Sarajevo, and a car bomb almost killed the president of Macedonia.

    In Croatia, the Zagreb government and Serb insurgents occupying its Eastern Slovenia region agreed on a preliminary set of "guiding principles" aimed at a settlement of their dispute, U.N. envoy Thorvald Stoltenberg said.

    "These basic principles represent an important first step to peacefully resolve the question of eastern Slavonia," he said in the town of Erdut on the Croat-Serbian border.

    Stoltenberg and Peter Galbraith, the U.S. ambasasador to Croatia, mediated at the talks in Erdut between Croatian envoys and leaders of local Serbs who have held the area since 1991.

    The West fears an attack on Eastern Slavonia by Croatia's army could force Serbian-led rump Yugoslavia to rush to the aid of Serbs and wreck peace prospects for the entire region.

    Croatia has threatened to use its army to retake Eastern Slavonia, the last bit of its territory held by Serb rebels, if no deal on the restoration of Zagreb's rule is reached before a U.N.

    peacekeeping mandate expires at the end of November.

    In the Croatian capital Zagreb, Holbrooke denied there was any impasse in peace talks with combatants, despite the failure of a ceasefire to materialise so far.

    "I don't think it's an impasse. I think both sides want a ceasefire. But the details of how it's arranged are tricky and important," Holbrooke told reporters before heading to Belgrade to meet Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

    "We're talking not only about the ceasefire...we're also talking about what happens after the war ends, with political arrangements being the number one subject," Holbrooke said.

    Fierce fighting continued on Monday between Bosnian Serb army (BSA) and Bosnian government (BiH) troops on the frontline between the towns of Teslic and Kotor Varos in central Bosnia.

    Bosnian Serbs have stopped the latest Moslem offensive launched during NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) air raids in September, BSA source said. The BSA also claimed that Moslem troops suffered massive losses on this frontline.

    BSA troops captured two tanks, an armoured personnel carrier and one anti-aircraft gun, together with televison equipment belonging to the Bosnian government television network, BSA source said.


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