UN general's plea to Serbs

Sarajevo (Reuter) - The commander of United Nations troops in Bosnia, in a dramatic amateur radio broadcast from a besieged Muslim town yesterday backed Muslim demands for aid and urged the Serbs to stop their attack. UN officials endorsed General Philippe Morillon's statement from Srebrenica.

Lieutenant-General Lars-Eric Wahlgren, commander of the 25,000 UN troops in former Yugoslavia, called on the rebel Bosnian Serb leadership and their backers in Belgrade to give the appeal their 'full co-operation'.

'Fully conscious that a major tragedy was about to take place in Srebrenica, I deliberately came here and I have now decided to stay here in Srebrenica in order to calm the anguish of the population and in order to save them or try to save them,' Gen Morillon said. He called for 'an immediate halt to the Serb offensive' and the opening of a road corridor to Srebrenica and the trapped Muslim town of Konjevic Polje.