Army Response to EC: Shelling of Croatia Cities

In response to Western Europe’s threat to impose economic sanctions, the Serbian-led Yugoslav army blasted at Croatia from land, air and sea Monday, shelling Adriatic resorts and announcing it is moving in for the kill in embattled Vukovar.

Some of the worst fighting in four months was reported across the secessionist republic on the eve of today’s European Community deadline for combatants to accept a peace plan or risk a trade embargo that would choke off vital supplies.

Five of the six Yugoslav republics have agreed to the EC plan, which would effectively recognize the division of the Balkan federation into independent states. Only Serbia has said that it will not bow to a foreign ultimatum.

Federal infantry units around Dubrovnik exchanged fire with Croatian guardsmen defending the famed resort on the Adriatic Sea. Western reporters trapped inside the walled medieval fortress described the barrage as unceasing with heavy damage to homes, hotels and surrounding forest.

Croatian Radio said four waves of federal warplanes bombarded the besieged city of Vukovar in eastern Croatia, closing within a few hundred yards of the Croats, who have been staving off an army onslaught for 10 weeks.

Tanjug, the federal news agency based in Belgrade, quoted the army high command as saying it had launched “final operations” to conquer Vukovar.

The commander of Croatian forces defending Vukovar warned late Sunday that the 11,000 adults and 2,000 children still in the city could not keep the army at bay for more than a few hours without reinforcements. “Vukovar is in a very difficult and serious situation,” Milan Dedakovic told reporters in Zagreb by radio.

The EC foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, approved a shopping list of economic sanctions. But Lord Carrington, peace conference chairman, said he doubts that the sanctions will work.