Serbs Set Sights on Second Enclave, Shell Peacekeepers : Bosnia: Fall of Zepa, which appears certain, could swell the number of refugees in government-held land. Muslims from conquered Srebrenica detail the horror.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — As thousands of Muslim refugees from the “safe area” of Srebrenica languished in squalor and despair Friday, Bosnian Serbs turned their attention to the eradication of a second U.N.-protected enclave, ordering out civilians and shelling peacekeepers.

The eastern enclave of Zepa came under attack after nationalist Serbs issued a deadline for Bosnian government troops to lay down their weapons and gave the U.N. peacekeepers two hours to abandon their posts.

Warplanes from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization buzzed the Muslim pocket in support of the 79 Ukrainian U.N. peacekeepers whose observation posts were targeted with rebel Serb mortar fire.

The Bosnian Serbs were not deterred, however, and Zepa appeared headed for the same fate as Srebrenica, the enclave captured by the Serbs on Tuesday and swept clean of tens of thousands of refugees. As in Srebrenica, the lightly armed U.N. peacekeepers in Zepa are expected to prove no match for the Bosnian Serbs, and U.N. officials ruled out any attempt at reinforcements.

“How long do you think 79 peacekeepers can hold out?” U.N. spokesman Alexander Ivanko asked.

By taking Srebrenica, Zepa and the third eastern safe area, Gorazde, the Bosnian Serbs would have succeeded in erasing the Muslim presence from the eastern half of Bosnia-Herzegovina. They would control all territory from Serbia to the besieged Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.

When Zepa falls, its 16,000 mostly Muslim residents will be added to an epic humanitarian crisis unfolding around the Bosnian city of Tuzla, where an estimated 20,000 refugees from Srebrenica spent their second night huddled along roadsides and in fields Friday.

Expelled by the conquering Bosnian Serbs and forced to walk across front lines to government-held territory, the refugees have told frightening stories of Serbian atrocities, including rapes, massacres and psychological torture.

One woman told relief workers that the Serbs slit her husband’s throat and that she saw at least eight other bodies. Several refugees told Bosnian government television that they saw piles of bodies and many women being hauled away by Bosnian Serb soldiers. And, they said, a number of people have hanged themselves from trees to avoid capture.

None of the reports could be independently verified.

But they resembled the kinds of atrocities committed in the early part of this 39-month war, in which an estimated 200,000 people have died or are missing.

After the fall of Srebrenica, as many as 10,000 people, mostly men and boys, are still unaccounted for. The Bosnian Serbs rounded up males as young as 12 and took them away, the refugees said. As many as 3,000 may be detained in a soccer stadium in the Serb-controlled town of Bratunac within the fallen Srebrenica enclave.

“God knows how many people are still in Srebrenica and what their fate is going to be,” said Kris Janowski, spokesman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. “These are very alarming signals. We are afraid some ugly things might have happened and may still be happening.”

In the overcrowded settlement at Tuzla, a woman in her 20s was reported to have committed suicide--hanging herself from a tree with a torn blanket. Water and food remained critically scarce, and the lack of sanitation facilities made an epidemic of disease likely.

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U.N. officials accused the Bosnian government of exacerbating the refugees’ plight by insisting that they be taken to the Tuzla air base and be made the responsibility of the United Nations rather than settled in government shelters.

A deal was struck late Friday to move many of the refugees to four outlying towns. But thousands of refugees were condemned to sit on the sides of roads or in sprawling fields, shielding themselves from the summer sun and fighting for rare loaves of bread.

The refugees, who were expelled from Srebrenica on Wednesday, were bused to the front lines and then forced to walk a mile and a half across forested hills to reach government-held territory. Various relief organizations then transported them to Tuzla. International monitors were given only limited access.

The speed with which the Bosnian Serbs evicted such a large number of people from Srebrenica, using the infamous practice that has come to be known as “ethnic cleansing,” stunned U.N. officials.

“Probably the Bosnian Serb army will go down in history not only as the perpetrators of some of the most gross violations of human rights and some of the worst ‘ethnic cleansing’ seen in this country, but also as the fastest perpetrators of this ‘ethnic cleansing,’ ” Ivanko said. “They have succeeded in rounding up over 20,000 people in under 48 hours.”

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Although patron nation Serbia is supposedly refraining from supplying the Bosnian Serbs, they were able to marshal 100 buses and trucks--plus sufficient fuel for the vehicles--to evict the refugees.

Such a feat raised questions anew about the extent to which Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, despite his assurances to the contrary, continues to support his Bosnian brethren. Bosnian government army commanders claim that Serbia is now sending troops as well as materiel into Bosnia for the Bosnian Serbs.

The disgrace of the loss of Srebrenica, and the likely next loss of Zepa, inspired world leaders Friday to search for ways to salvage the moribund U.N. mission in Bosnia. But talking tough had a price: Even as France called for military intervention in Bosnia to punish the Bosnian Serbs, rebel Serb gunmen targeted a U.N. relief convoy being driven by French soldiers over treacherous Mt. Igman near Sarajevo, destroying three trucks.

The French responded with unusual fury, firing 40 90-millimeter tank rounds at the Serbs and destroying or heavily damaging their positions. The French troops, who make up the largest contingent of U.N. forces in Sarajevo, then went on red alert in anticipation of retaliatory attacks.

Meantime, in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, there were reports from U.N. officials that the Japanese diplomat in charge of negotiating peace in Bosnia was shunted aside Friday following the fall of Srebrenica.

Yasushi Akashi remains head of U.N. operations in the Balkans, but diplomat Thorvald Stoltenberg of Norway will be responsible for meeting with Bosnia’s warring factions, who in some cases won’t even talk to Akashi.

U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali apparently is hoping the change of personalities can restart stalled peace talks, the Associated Press reported.

But Friday evening, the Muslim-led Bosnian government said it would refuse to talk with either Akashi or Stoltenberg, “holding them responsible for the tragic events in Bosnia, especially the latest in Srebrenica.”

Akashi has been extremely unpopular with the Bosnian government almost since he was appointed in January, 1994. Stoltenberg is considered only marginally better by the Bosnians. He was accused of being pro-Serb after a May 31 speech in Oslo in which he said Bosnia’s Muslims and Croats historically were Serbs who changed their religion or lifestyle.