U.N. Aid Convoy Reaches Starving Bosnia Enclave; Plane Violates Zone

A U.N. relief convoy reached the government-held Bihac enclave in northwest Bosnia on Wednesday after the first deaths from starvation were reported in the pocket over the weekend, U.N. officials said.

The convoy, organized by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, arrived in Cazin, in the middle of the Bosnian enclave, after crossing territory controlled by Croatian Serbs and renegade Muslim forces, the agency said. It reported Saturday that an old man and a 3-year-old died in Bihac--the first reports of hunger-related deaths in the besieged enclave.

The refugee agency last week managed to send two small convoys into the enclave, where about 20% of the 160,000 inhabitants are entirely dependent on outside aid.

Bihac is nominally under U.N. protection, but Serb and rebel Muslim forces controlling roads into the enclave have often halted aid convoys despite promises to allow free access.

Meanwhile, a warplane believed to be flown by rebel Serbs attacked a power plant that supplies the Bihac area in a blatant snub of the United Nations’ increasingly violated “no-fly” zone.

The attack on the plant was at least the third major violation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-enforced flight ban over Bosnia-Herzegovina in two months.