Bosnia Declares State of War; U.N. Jeep Hit

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — As Bosnia declared a state of war Saturday, a convoy of U.N. peacekeepers took a direct hit from a mortar shell during intense fighting in the western suburbs of this besieged capital.

Three Canadian U.N. reconnaissance officers were injured, one seriously, when their jeep was struck by a mortar shell less than a quarter-mile from the headquarters of the U.N. force.

They were traveling in a convoy of 18 vehicles that was withdrawing from the closed Sarajevo airport, which the United Nations has been trying to reopen to fly in badly needed supplies of food and medicine.

The attack Saturday was the most serious one against U.N. forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina since the war began three months ago.

The United Nations refused to identify which side it believed had fired the mortar shell. But in response to the attack, U.N. Brig. Gen. Lewis MacKenzie, who is the U.N. commander here and who was in the convoy, sent an ultimatum to both the besieging Serbs and to the Bosnian government.

MacKenzie warned officials that there could be no further U.N. work on the opening of the airport until a cease-fire holds without significant violation for at least 48 hours.

The U.N. mission signed a cease-fire agreement two weeks ago with both the Serb and Bosnian sides that would enable the airport to reopen, but nearly continuous fighting since then has slowed plans to move anti-aircraft weapons away from the airport.

Saturday’s U.N. warning appears to play into the hands of the Serbian forces surrounding Sarajevo. Their strategy apparently has been to starve the outgunned Bosnian government into agreeing to partition the city along ethnic lines.

The full implications of the Bosnian presidency’s declaration of war for the U.N. mission were not immediately clear.

Sources at Sarajevo Radio said the declaration would give the presidency the right to declare total mobilization.