ZAGREB, Croatia United Nations forces rescued an aid convoySunday that braved fighting to deliver food to the Bosnian town ofGorazde only to fall prisoner to land mines on its way home.
The aid team, which brought 46 tons of food and medicine toGorazde after four months of isolation from the outside world, headedback toward the Bosnian capital Sarajevo Sunday evening after atwo-day trip through the war zone.
"We know of no problems, but until they are back in Sarajevo,there is concern," said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the United Nationshigh commissioner for refugees.
He said neither side in the fighting, which pits Muslims andand Croats against rebel Serb forces, had cooperated to remove themines and let the aid convoy go on its way.
In Serb-held northern Bosnia, "The dimensions of the problemare much greater than most foreigners imagine," said RichardHolbrook, heading a mission of the International Rescue Committee,the biggest refugee assistance agency in the United States.
To the south, tensions centered on the aid convoy, which wasdelayed by shooting on the way into Gorazde Saturday and delayed bymines on the way out. An effort to get food into Gorazde last monthfailed when the United Nations convoy hit a land mine and had to berescued.
This time, 46 tons of food and medicine were unloaded Saturdayin the eastern Muslim town, whose 70,000 residents have no access tofood, water and electricity under the Serbian siege.
But on the journey back Saturday evening, the relief convoy raninto a mined bridge about nine miles out of town that both sides inthe Yugoslav war refused to unblock.
The team camped out overnight and a mine-clearing team of three French armored personnel carriers was dispatched from SarajevoSunday to ensure their return.
That convoy in turn was delayed more than four hours as it passed through checkpoint after checkpoint in fighting zones southof Sarajevo, Redmond said.
It took the team about an hour to remove the mines.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий