Some Bosnia Aid Delivered but : Sarajevo Is Running Out of Fuel

Relief workers were able to maneuver some aid convoys around Bosnia’s battle zones Sunday, but Sarajevo remained critically short of fuel.

Despite the aid deliveries, there was concern about a new humanitarian crisis as refugees fled renewed fighting in central Bosnia-Herzegovina between Croats and Muslim-led government forces.

A U.N. spokesman in Sarajevo, Lt. Col. Bill Aikman, said 20 convoys delivered more than 1,000 tons of food and supplies to parts of central and eastern Bosnia, but he said their success was an exception.

Ray Wilkinson, a spokesman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said Sarajevo’s fuel reserves were critically low, threatening operations at the city bakery, the main hospital and other facilities.

A convoy carrying diesel fuel for Sarajevo, the besieged Bosnian capital, remained stalled in western Bosnia because of fighting.

Warfare has persisted despite word that peace talks on dividing Bosnia into three states--Serbian, Croatian and predominantly Muslim--might get back on track.

The talks collapsed last week in Geneva because of disputes over the internal borders of a future Bosnian federation. But Bosnia’s Muslim president, Alija Izetbegovic, said Saturday that he expects them to resume in about two weeks.

Nikola Koljevic, an aide to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, said in remarks published Sunday that his side is ready to return to the negotiating table.