Serbs Say Most Remaining U.N. Hostages Freed

Bosnian Serb rebels, yielding again to pressure from Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, said they released 129 U.N. peacekeepers Tuesday and promised to free their 15 remaining hostages in days.

Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic declared the hostage crisis over and said he hoped that the West had learned not to engage in “hostile acts” against his forces. The Bosnian Serbs rounded up more than 370 U.N. troops, using some as human shields, after air strikes by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization destroyed rebel ammunition depots three weeks ago.

“We want peace as soon as possible,” Karadzic said at a news conference in Pale, the Bosnian Serb headquarters 10 miles east of here.

But peace seemed as distant as ever Tuesday, with the defiant Bosnian Serb leader hinting that he would not hesitate to take hostages again and his army blocking desperately needed food and medical supplies destined for this capital.

There were also ominous signs that a new round of heavy fighting in the Sarajevo area may be in the offing.

Croatian Radio reported Tuesday night that the Muslim-led Bosnian government army had begun deploying up to 30,000 troops north of the capital, possibly to attempt breaking the 38-month siege by Bosnian Serbs, and that the rebel Serbs are also mobilizing.

A foreign military source familiar with intelligence reports told The Times that the 4th Corps of the Bosnian army had begun building up in the region around Breza, government-controlled territory with relatively easy access to the capital.

The exact intent of the buildup was not clear, the source said, but it fueled speculation that the government might be planning to try to penetrate the Bosnian Serb lines that surround Sarajevo.

For months, the Muslim-led Bosnian government has pledged to break the Bosnian Serb stranglehold on Sarajevo by the end of November, but it has sought to portray the buildup around Breza as defensive.

Although the Bosnian army has improved dramatically in the last year and now numbers 200,000, several analysts still doubt that it is strong enough to break the siege. Casualties would be extremely high, the foreign military source said, and the well-armed Bosnian Serbs would easily be able to renew bombardment of Sarajevo.

“It’s a major . . . undertaking, even for a modern Western army,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Protection Force moved forward with plans to augment its firepower with the arrival in Croatia on Tuesday of the first French infantry troops assigned to a new quick-reaction force.

Senior U.N. military officials said the new multinational force would fire back if Bosnian Serbs attacked peacekeepers.

But Karadzic insisted that his rebel forces would not be bullied. “If we are attacked, we will have to defend ourselves by all means,” he said.

On Tuesday evening, a bus carrying 27 released hostages arrived in Serbia, and U.N. officials confirmed that 92 U.N. troops who had been confined to their posts by Bosnian Serb soldiers were free and that some nearby mines had been removed.

But as of late Tuesday, U.N. officials could not account for 10 hostages that Karadzic said were among those released.

The fate of the 15 other peacekeepers still detained also was unclear. Karadzic said they were being held for “technical reasons,” apparently related to their distant deployment. “We have to transport them very carefully, so nobody can attack them,” Karadzic asserted.

Some Western diplomats speculated that the Bosnian Serb leader is hanging on to the peacekeepers as insurance against any sudden move by the newly deployed quick-reaction force or NATO retaliation from the air for the shooting down of U.S. Air Force Capt. Scott F. O’ Grady, who was rescued last week after nearly six days on the ground in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

“The Bosnian Serbs might calculate it is in their interest to have some kind of insurance policy,” one Western diplomat said.

Bosnian Serb officials in Pale said they had received assurances that NATO would no longer conduct strikes in Bosnian Serb territory.

But U.N. officials denied that any deal had been struck. Karadzic “has not received any promise or pledge or agreement to that effect,” U.N. spokeswoman Leah Melnick said. “We have consistently insisted on the unconditional release of the detainees, and we still do.”

Western diplomats said Milosevic is likely to use his role in securing the hostages’ freedom--his third successful intervention in 10 days--to gain leverage in international negotiations over lifting U.N. economic sanctions against his country.

Serbian state security chief Jovica Stanisic, sent by Milosevic to Pale on Monday to push Karadzic on the remaining hostages, declared the latest release “a great success” for Milosevic.

Talks between Milosevic and U.S. special envoy Robert Frasure broke down last week, apparently over a renewed hard line by the Serbian president over terms for lifting sanctions. But many diplomats still view Milosevic as pivotal to international efforts to bring the Bosnian Serbs to the peace table.

Even with the good news from Pale, the Bosnian Serbs showed no sign of easing the food crisis in Sarajevo. After promising to permit two urgently needed food convoys into the capital Tuesday, the rebel Serbs reneged and made new demands that half the supplies be given to their people, U.N. officials said. Serbs make up fewer than 25% of the residents of Sarajevo and its suburbs, and aid officials, assessing need, had designated one-third of the shipment for them.

The Bosnian Serbs also demanded that all future relief convoys be dispatched from the Serbian capital, Belgrade, which would force the convoys to traverse more Serb-held territory.

Murphy reported from Zagreb, Croatia, and Wilkinson from Sarajevo.