U.N. Says Clashes Won’t Bar Troops’ Yugoslav Mission
A spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers said Thursday that clashes in Croatia will not prevent deployment of up to 14,000 troops to divide warring Serbs and Croats.
Meanwhile, thousands of students protesting the war and demanding the resignation of hard-line Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic continued a rally in Belgrade, the Yugoslav and Serbian capital.
Some of the worst fighting since the Jan. 3 cease-fire has flared during the past week.
But U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said that the violence will not derail the U.N. mission.
“As far as I know, we are moving ahead,” he said. U.N. officials had previously refused to send in troops without a guarantee of a firm cease-fire.
In New York, U.N. special envoy Cyrus R. Vance said Thursday he hopes the 14,000-member U.N. peacekeeping force for Yugoslavia can be fully deployed by the end of April.
As dusk fell on Belgrade’s main Terazije Square, 1,500 to 2,000 anti-Milosevic demonstrators milled around at a vigil that peaked with some 10,000 protesters Wednesday night.
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