BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: BOSNIAN SERBS CONTINUE TO LEAVE AREAS DUE TO PASS UNDER BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT CONTROL

Record ID: 639925

  • Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: BOSNIAN SERBS CONTINUE TO LEAVE AREAS DUE TO PASS UNDER BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT CONTROL
  • Date: 24th February 1996
  • Summary: PALE AND VOGOSCA, NEAR SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERTZEGOVINA (FEBRUARY 24, 1996) (REUTERS TELEVISION - ACCESS ALL) PALE 1. LV CONVOY OF VEHICLES OF SERB REFUGEES 0.03 2. SLV MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (MSF) DISTRIBUTION POINT 0.06 3. SV VOLUNTEERS GIVING BREAD AND MILK TO REFUGEES IN CARS (7 SHOTS) 0.40 4. SV SUPPLIES FOR REFUGEES INSIDE TENT 0.45 5. LV MSF LORRY 0.50 6. SV SUPPLIES BEING GIVEN TO REFUGEES IN LORRY 0.57 7. LV EXT SCHOOL IN PALE 1.02 8. GV/SV REFUGEES INSIDE SCHOOL / BELONGINGS (6 SHOTS) 1.32 9. SV FOOD DISTRIBUTION POINT (2 SHOTS) 1.44 10.LV BEDS LAID OUT ON FLOOR 1.47 VOGOSCA 11.SV SERBS COMPLAINING THAT FEDERAL POLICE ARE MAKING SPOT CHECKS ON ROADS (SERBO-CROAT) (2 SHOTS) 2.08 12.SV FEDERATION POLICE AND UNITED NATIONS COUNTERPART (2 SHOTS) 2.25 13.SCU PETER FITZGEREALD, INTERNATIONAL POLICE COMMISSIONER, SPEAKING (ENGLISH) 2.38 14.LV/SV IFOR TASK FORCE POLICE ON VOGOSCA CORRIDOR (3 SHOTS) 2.59 15.LV TRUCK PASSING TANK 3.04 16.SV BOSNIAN FEDERATION POLICE CHIEF ALIJA KASIC SAYING THEY ARE PATROLLING WITH THE INTERNATIONAL POLICE TASK FORCE AND EVERYTHING IS WORKING WELL (SERBO-CROAT) 3.17 17.SV POLICEMEN 3.23 SEQUENCE 13 TRANSCRIPT: FITZGERALD: "THERE IS TO BE NO FEDERAL POLICE ACTIVITY ALONG THE CORRIDOR, THAT MEANS CHECKPOINTS, PATROLS, EVEN INDIVIDUAL FEDERAL POLICE WALKING. AND IF THERE ARE, THERE THEY CAN BE REMOVED BY OUR PEOPLE." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 10th March 1996 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PALE AND VOGOSCA, NEAR SARAJEVO, BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA
  • Reuters ID: LVA1TU0LTNPARXJZAGSE23PIUWI8
  • Story Text: NATO's peace Implementation Force (IFOR) made last-ditch attempts on Saturday (February 24) to prevent a mass exodus of Serbs from areas due to pass under Bosnian government control under the terms of the Dayton peace accord.

    The Serbs fear reprisal attacks under the new Bosnian regime for their 43-month seige of Sarajevo, despite assurances of safety from IFOR and the Bosnian government itself.

    Thousands of men, women and children from the Bosnian-Serb held suburbs of Sarajevo streamed through villages and towns in eastern Bosnia seeking food and shelter from bitter winter conditions.

    In the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale, a school was turned into a refugee transit station. International organizations involved in providing shelter for the refugees said numbers were overwhelming them.

    This week, about 14,500 Serbs left the Vogosca suburb of Sarajevo after Moslem Croat police moved in, bringing the total number of Serb refugees on the move to 20,000.

    Residents complained that trucks promised by the Serb authorities in Pale had never arrived and added that Moslem police had stopped departing vehicles at checkpoints on the road out of Vogosca.

    Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, head of the International Police Task Force monitoring the Federation police, said a checkpoint set up on Friday in violation of the accords had been ordered removed.

    Bosnian police chief Alija Kasic said that his forces were patrolling with the International Police Task Force and addedthat all was well.

    On his first visit to Vogosca, Bosnian Prime Minister Hasan Muratovic said Serbs who fled the Moslem Croat federation takeover will not be as welcome among their compatriots as they would have been among Sarajevans if they had stayed.

    Muratovic hailed the takeover as a success for the Dayton accord and proof that Bosnians were genuine when they promised Serbs they could stay after the Moslem Croat federation police took over.

    Serbs attempting to escape the handover had their cars stoned and windscreens smashed as they drove through Moslem territory on Friday.

    NATO's commander in Bosnia Admiral Leighton Smith decided to allow military transports back into zones they have already quit after visiting near-abandoned Vogosca and witnessing Serbs preparing to flee in panic.

    Smith, accompanied by Bosnian Serb Parliament President Momcilo Krajisnik and international high representative Carl Bildt, toured all five Sarajevo suburbs due to be transferred to Moslem-Croat control on the March 20 hand-over deadline.

    The United Nations (U.N.), which refused to provide transport for the Serb exodus for fear of being charged with aiding and abetting ethnic cleansing, had no immediate reaction to Smith's plan.

    U.N. officials have criticised the Bosnian Serb leadership for sowing panic by instructing their people to leave.


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