Bosnians Agree to a Pullback Near Capital, U.N. Official Says
Bosnian government troops could begin withdrawing from a demilitarized zone Monday if U.N. peacekeepers help secure a key supply road often targeted by Bosnian Serbs.
Yasushi Akashi, the top U.N. official in the former Yugoslav federation, said Saturday that Muslim-led government troops will begin leaving the DMZ on Mt. Igman in exchange for U.N. guarantees of protection for the supply route over the mountain just southwest of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital.
Bosnian Serbs have been firing regularly on commercial trucks and other vehicles using the twisting dirt road.
Akashi, after daylong meetings with Bosnian Serb and Bosnian government officials, also said the rebel Serbs promised to end a blockade of U.N. fuel convoys and allow free movement for peacekeepers through their territory.
The blockade has reduced U.N. fuel supplies to critically low levels in Sarajevo and three Muslim enclaves surrounded by rebel Serbs.
If the promises hold on both sides, they could ease spiraling tension between the United Nations and the warring parties.
About 200,000 people are missing or dead in the war, which broke out in April, 1992, when Bosnian Serbs revolted against a vote by Bosnian Croats and Muslims to secede from Yugoslavia.
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