. . . but Gorazde Desperately Needs an Antidote : Siege: A resident in a town suffering relentless Serb shelling describes the unfolding tragedy.

Greetings from early-morning Gorazde, where I am doing my watch and counting shells and small-arms fire.

By now, all of us are chronically frightened and break into acute anxiety several times each day. The BSA (Bosnian Serb army) gets special violent frenzies each day between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Yesterday at 6 p.m., four shells landed in the locality of the United Nations Military Observers (UNMO) building, with two of them rocking it and spreading debris into the rooms upstairs where the refugees shelter. One blew a huge hole in the side wall of the building adjacent to us and a little boy lost both his legs.

We cannot go to the assistance of such cases, as it would be suicidal to face direct fire, but the local people used the U.N. car to bring him to the hospital. How many others were injured, we do not know but the fire raged in that building all night as a grim reminder to us of how close we came to direct hits.

One of the U.N. lads was passing the front door at the time and was blown across the hall but thankfully, uninjured. None of our little clan of refugees was injured either.

It is hard to hit this building directly as it is partially surrounded by others, but they are being demolished one by one. If this lasts long enough, it will be our turn.

We rarely leave the cellar now except to go to the toilet, which is on the first floor. The thought of meeting an artillery shell while on it has spread an epidemic of acute constipation among the cellar residents. A diet of crackers and cheese from ration packs will ensure the above is sustained. We have buckets in the back of the cellar if the worst comes to pass and house to house fighting forces us to lock ourselves into the sleeping room. It is the only secure place without any windows, but the door could be forced easily enough and there is no other exit. The horror of dying like rats trapped in a cellar is not far from all our thoughts.

The conditions for the refugees and residents in town is appalling. They have no food and have to risk their lives to get water. Most of them shelter in badly damaged buildings. The wet, foggy weather is no help. But worst of all is the constant shelling of the town; few have cellars suitable to protect against this.

One of the U.N.’s local workers and his wife were killed yesterday evening by a direct shell on their house in the right bank of the Drina. His two young children, a daughter, 12, and a son, 6, were not home at the time. They were brought to the UNMO building by neighbors last night. Their grief was heartbreaking to see. He is the second person we shared time with here to be killed this week. We feel so helpless in the face of the great tragedy for the people of Gorazde. Not a family has escaped death. One of the U.N. interpreters has just arrived here now and told me his brother-in-law was killed at 7 p.m. last night by a direct shell impact to his house right beside the hospital.

The only bright spot was the news last night that the Serbs are releasing their U.N. hostages and have returned some of the guns they seized back in Sarajevo. Maybe the Russians are putting severe pressure on Belgrade and Pale (site of the rebel Serbs’ “Parliament”). Certainly, the only solution is a political one.

That is all from me as I am about finished duty now and will crawl back in the sleeping bag to kill a few more hours in sleep. All the very best.