U.N. Pulls Peacekeepers Out Of Last ‘Safe Area’ Some See Move As Pressuring Bosnia Into Peace Talks

A day after announcing it would increase protection of Bosnia’s “safe areas” by threatening NATO air strikes, the United Nations said Friday it is withdrawing almost all its troops from Gorazde, one of the safe areas, relying on air power alone to deter an attack on the estimated 50,000 civilians there.

Previously the use of air power had been disdained by U.N. officials as being ineffective unless accompanied by coordinated action with ground troops.

Now, however, the officials assert that Gorazde can be protected by aircraft alone because restrictions on when they may be called in and on what targets they can strike have been loosened.

A U.N. officer said that if Gorazde were in danger of falling to Bosnian Serb troops, NATO could respond with a general bombing campaign against targets throughout Serb-held territory.

The withdrawal of U.N. troops from Gorazde comes as American diplomats are reportedly suggesting the safe area might even be ceded to the Serbs in return for their yielding territory around Sarajevo to the Bosnian government.

President Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia has rejected such an idea, and Friday a Bosnian government official said that by pulling its troops out of Gorazde, the United Nations may be trying to pressure the Bosnians into accepting the proposal.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, who is discussing a new U.S. peace proposal with Balkan leaders this week, met Friday with President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and President Franjo Tudjman of Croatia. Today he is scheduled to meet with Bosnian government officials in Sarajevo.

In Gorazde, 90 Ukrainian soldiers in the U.N. force were being withdrawn Friday. The remaining U.N. troops, some 180 British soldiers, are to leave in three weeks. Over the last few weeks about 140 British troops have been quietly withdrawn.

Britain announced last April that it would withdraw its soldiers from Gorazde, but no other country agreed to replace the British units, and U.N. officials conceded that the chances of finding replacement troops were slight.

Instead, a handful of U.N. military observers are likely to be sent to Gorazde, and with them forward air controllers to guide the NATO air strikes if they are needed.

In removing its ground troops from Gorazde the United Nations is acknowledging what became obvious with the fall of the safe areas of Zepa and Srebrenica last month: a few lightly armed peacekeeping units are more vulnerable than helpful in the face of a full attack.

Danish and Ukrainian units in the U.N. force were unable to stop attacks on the two areas. Instead, they found themselves caught in crossfire between Bosnian Serb and Bosnian government forces. One was killed, and hundreds were temporarily taken hostage.

Instead of actually protecting the areas, the U.N. forces could only monitor events there, the United Nations now admits. The main job of the peacekeeping soldiers was to hold on temporarily and call for help if the Bosnian Serbs mounted a serious attack.

But even that did not work, and when the attacks came the United Nations quickly announced the areas were not defensible.

In the case of Srebrenica, two NATO jets carried out limited air attacks on Bosnian Serb forces advancing on the safe area. But the results of the air strikes were negligible, and NATO pilots were left to observe from the air as the Serbs overran the area.

Under the new rules, NATO aircraft would not be restricted to attacking weapons or troops firing on safe areas. Other targets, including those in other parts of Serbian-held territory, can now be hit.

Meanwhile in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in the last few days, the Croatian army has moved heavy artillery and more than 10,000 troops into a position to attack Bosnian Serbs who have shelled the area around Dubrovnik from Trebinje, in Bosnia.

U.N. officials and diplomats believe a Croatian attack to silence the Serbian guns is imminent. But as with its attack on the Serbian region of Croatia two weeks ago, the Croatian army has kept everyone guessing about what action it will take.