U.N. Agency Uses Food As Leverage In Bosnia

The U.N. relief agency cut food supplies Thursday to Croatian Serbs and rebel Bosnian Muslims in hopes of persuading their leaders to allow aid to reach hungry civilians in northwestern Bosnia.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the suspension would remain in effect until it has regular access to an estimated 200,000 people in the government-held Bihac enclave who are totally dependent on humanitarian aid.

For months, military forces opposed to the Bosnian government have permitted only a trickle of food into the region.

“The decision to cut aid was not easily brought, but the continued blockage by Croatia’s Serbs to the desperately needy in Bihac left us no other choice,” said U.N. spokeswoman Alemka Lisinski.