U.N. Reports Desperate Food Shortage in Bosnia

The United Nations said Tuesday that food is desperately scarce in the embattled northwest Bosnian enclave of Bihac, and it warned Croatian Serbs that NATO would retaliate if they used air power in fighting there.

“Such actions would constitute a violation of the ‘no-fly’ zone over Bosnia and would inevitably lead to use of NATO air power,” said Paul Risley, U.N. spokesman in the Croatian capital, Zagreb.

Rebel Muslim and Serbian forces have been blocking aid convoys to Bihac, and desperate citizens said they have not eaten for days, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

Several thousand people demonstrated outside the refugee agency offices in Bihac on Monday to urge relief workers to alleviate their plight, a U.N. spokesman said.