Bosnian Serbs Mobilized for Push on Besieged Muslims

Bosnian Serb commanders Monday ordered mobilization of all able-bodied adults in their territory for a final push to defeat the Muslim-led government after 22 months of siege.

Rebel military chieftains paired the call-up with threats of harsh punishment for deserters and anyone who fails to report to military training centers.

The high command also announced a crackdown on illegal trade, especially with enemy forces, reported the Serb-run Tanjug news agency in Belgrade.

The full-scale mobilization intensified fears of a major offensive against this Bosnian capital or the northern city of Tuzla, which the United Nations wants to use as a port for humanitarian aid.

But the highly publicized directive for all men and women to report to the nearest army garrison may be an attempt to intimidate NATO and U.N. forces that have threatened air strikes against Bosnian Serb units undermining U.N. operations.

Military leaders of the self-styled Serbian Republic that covers 70% of Bosnia are mustering all available forces “to successfully end the war,” Tanjug said of the measures. The report claimed the call-up was necessary because “the international community has decided to support the Muslims in the war option.”

The mustering appeared to be in reaction to U.N. approval of close North Atlantic Treaty Organization air support for operations aimed at opening Tuzla airport for humanitarian relief flights and breaking a Serbian blockade of Canadian troops guarding the besieged Muslim enclave of Srebrenica.

Although Bosnian Serbs have a huge advantage in weaponry, having inherited hundreds of tanks, artillery pieces and aircraft from the Yugoslav People’s Army, which withdrew from Bosnia in May, 1992, they have fewer fighters and flagging morale.

Victory appeared at hand last fall when Western mediators at peace talks in Geneva accepted what was largely a Serbian plan for carving Bosnia into three ethnic ministates. The Serbian province would have covered more than half of the once-integrated republic and would eventually have been allowed to secede and join fellow Serbs in rump Yugoslavia, gaining international acceptance of the state they expanded by force.

But the Muslim-led government rejected partitioning and has indicated in subsequent negotiation sessions that it is prepared to fight on to defend what is left of Bosnia rather than accede to an unjust peace.

Demoralized by the protracted conflict and dwindling prospects for a negotiated settlement, the Bosnian Serb rebels have lately endured battlefield stalemates and even some losses.

Irregular troops loyal to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his rogue republic are believed to number about 80,000. But the rising number of young, male Bosnian Serb refugees in the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade suggests growing disenchantment with a rebellion that has so far brought only poverty, isolation and international scorn.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees complained last week that Bosnian Serb refugees were being rounded up in Belgrade and pressed into service for the fight in Bosnia, a violation of international covenants that aim to protect refugees.

Disgruntled rebel gunmen have increasingly been selling weapons and ammunition to earn money for basic necessities or to bribe their way out of the country, and much of the black-market weaponry is ending up in the hands of their enemies.