UN seeks best use of troops in former Yugoslavia

THE UN Security Council yesterday began discussing key options to modifying its presence of 9,000 troops in Bosnia. The immediate question is how to provide enough extra troops to set up monitors on the border with Serbia to prevent military supplies getting through to the Bosnian Serbs, and then how to increase the UN presence in the six so-called Muslim-dominated 'safe havens'.

The monitoring could be carried out by redeployment of the current forces that have been used mostly in the distribution of humanitarian aid. But securing the safe havens would require additional troops. As the United States has been unwilling to commit troops to Bosnia, one possibility being examined would bring in 750 UN troops currently stationed in the Macedonian Republic. They would then be replaced by US forces under UN control as President Clinton has said he would be prepared to commit troops to Macedonia.

The non-aligned group on the Security Council, led by Venezuela, has submitted a draft resolution that calls for air strikes to ensure the safe havens are in fact safe for Bosnia's Muslims.

European foreign and defence ministers yesterday developed the idea of creating safe havens for the Muslim population in Bosnia with possible US air protection. Ministers from the nine Western European Union countries also stressed the need for clear and co-ordinated rules of engagement for troops in the safe havens. Wim Van Eekelen, the WEU secretary-general, said bluntly: 'If the United States makes an air strike which is not co-ordinated with the European presence on the ground it could be very dangerous for our people.'

The WEU ministers ordered studies on the possibility of establishing various safe areas. The Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, said in a BBC interview: 'We . . . want to build up the idea of safe havens.' It would require more troops and greater protection for them. 'This is one angle we will be pressing ahead with in discussions later today and in Washington and New York,' he added.

Russia's Foreign Minister, Andre Kozyrev, in Rome after talks with leaders in Yugoslavia, met several of the WEU ministers after their meeting. He said that the Russians 'will not fail to participate in peace-keeping activities' in safe havens as well as on the borders and in the realisation of the Vance-Owen peace plan. He would not say how many troops they were prepared to deploy.