From: trh@jack.sns.com (Al Trh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: News Dec 17 (from Haluk)
Date: 18 Dec 1992 02:46:34 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
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Forwarded message:
>From cms1.ucs.leeds.ac.uk!TEX5HAD Thu Dec 17 22:40:56 1992
Via: uk.ac.leeds.ucs.cms1; Thu, 17 Dec 1992 22:44:44 +0000
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 92 22:43:11 GMT
From: Haluk DEMIRBAG <TEX5HAD@cms1.ucs.leeds.ac.uk>
Subject: News Dec 17 (fwd)
To: TRH@JACK.SNS.COM, TOPRAK@MCIMAIL.COM
Message-Id: <17 Dec 92 22:44:16 GMT #9811@UK.AC.LEEDS.CMS1>

: Thatcher urges air strikes against Serbs
: Eagleburger calls for ``aggressive measures'' to halt fighting in Bosnia
: Some 500 Muslim Slav prisoners missing from Manjaca camp
: Abysmal conditions in freezing, resource-short Sarajevo hospitals

Subject: Thatcher urges air strikes against Serbs

        LONDON (UPI) -- Former prime minister Margaret Thatcher called
Thursday for the West to mount air strikes against Serbian forces in
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, warning that a failure to do so could
lead to a ``second Holocaust.''
        And, Thatcher, urging an a 48-hour deadline for the Serbs to withdraw
from the area around Sarajevo, also accused the Western allies of
``giving comfort'' to Serbian forces through their inaction.
        Writing in The European newspaper, Thatcher said: ``There must be a
clear ultimatum from the U.N. Security Council and if not, then from
NATO. The Serbs should be given 48 hours to withdraw from the surrounds
of Sarajevo and other Bosnian towns and allow through convoys of aid.
        ``There must be an immediate enforcement of Security Council
resolutions interdicting Serbian use of air space,'' she wrote.
        She said if hostilities continued, the West should supply arms to the
Muslim Slav-led Bosnian govenrment so it could defend itself.
        ``Once Bosnia's towns have been relieved, Serbia must be given a
further ultimatum: to withdraw Serb forces from Bosnia entirely,'' she
said. ``If Serb forces do not comply with these ultimata, air strikes
must be launched against Serb artillery positions, tanks, ammunition
dumps and supply lines, including military bases in Serbia.''
        Thatcher, whose outspoken views on Europe and other issues led to her
downfall from the British premiership two years ago, condemned the
Western allies for not acting.
        Describing the thousands of Bosnian refugees fleeing the area, she
said: ``Their agony is above all the result of Serbia's ruthless
aggression. But we in the West are to blame as well. We could have
stopped this, we could still do so.
        ``Sanctions are (not very effectively) being applied to them. But for
the most part we in the West have actually given comfort to the
aggressor.''
        ``We have continued to treat this war of aggression by Serbia as if
it were a 'civil war'. We have repeatedly stated in public that we will
not intervene militarily, so removing even a nagging uncertainty from
the minds of the generals in Belgrade.''
        She continued: ``We have accepted the flouting of successive U.N.
Security Council resolutions by Serbia, whose aircraft are still free to
drop cluster bombs on women and children.
        ``To this extent, we have not been neutrals: we have been more like
accomplices.''
        The former premier, who is now a member of the British House of
Lords, warned of the ``appalling'' consequences of continued inaction in
the Balkans.
        ``Bosnia may indeed be a 'far away country,' of which we know
nothing. But what is happening could have the most appalling
consequences for us too. The surrounding states cannot take any more of
the thousands of 'ethnically cleansed' refugees. They will soon be
pouring across Europe.''
        ``Already, large influxes of immigrants are fueling the fires of
racism in Germany, Italy and France. Nazism and fascism are on the rise.
''
        Thatcher also called for an immediate end to the arms embargo against
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.
        ``We have continued to impose an arms embargo on Bosnia (and
Croatia), knowing that this leaves overwhelming military superiority in
the hands of the Serbs, who have inherited from the old Yugoslavia the
weapons of the third largest army in Europe,'' she said.
        ``There must also be an immediate end to the arms embargo against
Bosnia and Croatia.''
        Thatcher concluded by quoting the political thinker Edmund Burke,
saying, ``It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil
to triumph.''
        She added: ``There is still time to save the intended victims of this
second Holocaust.''
=========================================================================
Subject: Eagleburger calls for ``aggressive measures'' to halt fighting in
 Bosnia

        GENEVA (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger said
Wednesday Washington will pursue ``more aggressive measures'' to force
Serbia and ethnic Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina to halt the bloodshed in
the former Yugoslavia.
        Eagleburger specifically cited enforcement of the U.N. Security
Council's 'no-fly zone' in Bosnia-Herzegovina and a re-examination of
the unilateral arms embargo that many say keeps Bosnia's government from
resisting the Serbs.
        The Bush administration also wants Serbian leaders to answer for
crimes against humanity allegedly committed by forces under their
control, he said.
        Eagleburger gave his tough speech, which included a list of alleged
war criminals from around the splintered federation, to a foreign
minister-level meeting of the International Conference on the Former
Yugoslavia.
        Eagleburger said the Serbs have repeatedly broken promises given at
London peace talks on the free movement of humanitarian aid, ending the
``barbaric'' siege of cities, halting military flights over Bosnia-
Herzegovina and closing detention camps.
        The situation in the former Yugoslavia ``has become increasingly
desperate,'' he said, with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and
Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic ``systematically'' and ``cynically''
flouting agreements.
        ``It is clear that the international community must begin now to
think about moving beyond the London agreements and contemplate more
aggressive measures,'' Eagleburger said.
        ``That is why my government is now recommending that the United
Nations Security Council authorize enforcement of the no-fly zone in
Bosnia, and why we are also willing to have the council re-examine the
arms embargo as it applies to the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina,'' he
said.
        ``It is because we have concluded that the deliberate flaunting of
Security Council resolutions and the London agreements by Serb
authorities is not only producing an intolerable and deteriorating
situation inside the former Yugoslavia, it is also beginning to threaten
the framework of stability in the new Europe,'' Eagleburger said.
        ``My government also believes it is time for the international
community to begin identifying individuals who may have to answer for
having committed crimes against humanity.''
        He then listed seven Serbian, Croatian and Bosnia Muslim commanders
but above all Milosevic, Karadzic and Gen. Ratho Mladic, commander of
Bosnian Serb military forces.
        Eagleburger said Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic ``must eventually
explain whether and how they sought to ensure -- as they must under
international law -- that their forces complied with international law.''
        ``They ought, if charged, to have the opportunity of defending
themselves by demonstrating whether and how they took responsible action
to prevent and punish the atrocities....undertaken by their
subordinates,'' he said.
        Other field commanders charged by Eagleburger with atrocities
included Borislav Herak, a Bosnian Serb who has confessed to killing
over 230 civilians, two Croatians named ``Adil'' and ``Arif'' who
belonged to a paramilitary force that killed more than 50 Serbian women
and children, and Zeljko Raznjatovic, whose Serb ``Tigers'' are linked
to brutal ethnic cleansing and mass murders of up to 3,000 children near
Brcko.
        Others were Vojislav Seselj, the Bosnian Serb commander of the
``White Eagles'' paramilitary force also linked to the Brcko killings,
Drago Prcac, commander of the Omarska detention camp where mass murder
and torture occurred, and Adem Delic, camp commander at Celebici where
at least 15 Serbs were beaten to death in August.
        Eagleburger after his statement to the meeting canceled a news
conference so he could fly straight to Brussels for a NATO foreign
ministers meeting Thursday and Friday.
        NATO agreed on Wednesday to a request from U.N. Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali to ready plans for eventual military action
against the Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina. That could include enforcement
of the no-fly ban and helping U.N. protection forces aid humanitarian
agencies.
        Earlier Wednesday, the foreign ministers and delegates endorsed a
four-point plan to end fighting in the former Yugoslav republics
proposed by U.N. special envoy Cyrus Vance and Lord David Owen of the
European Community.
        The diplomats, co-chairmen of ongoing Yugoslav peace talks, urged
enforcement of the no-fly ban if Serbian infringements continue, the
establishment of a war crimes tribunal, tougher sanctions against
Belgrade and warning Serbia against continuing repression of Muslims in
Kosovo.
        Vance and Owen also outlined plans Wednesday to speed negotiations
toward a peaceful settlement.
        Their proposals included a meeting between U.N. Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Presidents Franjo Tudjman of Croatia and
Dobrica Cosic of the truncated Yugoslav republic when Boutros-Ghali
visits Geneva later this month.
        Vance and Owen said they s;dp intend to bring together in Geneva the
leaders of the three warring parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina -- President
Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian Croat Mate Boban and Bosnian Serb Radovan
Karadzic -- in early January.
        The co-chairmen, who so far have been unable to get the three sides
to sit together, said they will ask the leaders to bring with them
military commanders to discuss a cessation of hostilities,
demilitarization of Sarajevo, ending the siege of cities and towns and
free movement of humanitarian aid.
=========================================================================
Subject: Some 500 Muslim Slav prisoners missing from Manjaca camp

        ZAGREB, Croatia (UPI) -- About 500 prisoners who were supposed to be
released from Serb-run Manjaca prison camp in northern Bosnia-
Herzegovina are missing, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
officials said Wednesday.
        ``We are very concerned about it and we don't know where they are,''
said Didier Pradervand, a spokesman for the ICRC in the Croatian capital
of Zagreb.
        The ICRC made the disclosure as Serbian authorities freed 1,001
predominantly Muslim Slav prisoners from the notorious detention center,
leaving approximately 400 inmates to be released by Friday when the camp
is scheduled to be closed.
        On Sunday, ICRC field staffers delivering humanitarian aid to
prisoners in Manjaca saw about 500 inmates put into buses by Serbian
authorities and driven off, Pradervand said.
        The ICRC asked why the men were being taken away, but ``the Serbian
authorities were under no obligation to answer the question,''
Pradervand said. ``There was nothing we could do.''
        Under a Dec. 9 agreement brokered by the ICRC in Geneva, the Muslim
Slav-led Bosnian government and Serbian and Croatian leaders agreed to
release all prisoners of war from their detention centers.
        ``Even though you have an agreement in Geneva, the situation on the
ground can be much different,'' Pradervand said.
        The ICRC is appealing to Serbian authorities to disclose the
whereabouts of the missing prisoners, he said.
        The 1,001 inmates freed Wednesday from Manjaca, located near the
Serbian stronghold town of Banja Luka, were taken on ICRC buses to a
clearing center in the Croatian town of Karlovac.
        On Monday, Serbian authorities freed 1,008 predominantly Muslim Slav
inmates in preparation for the closing of the camp.
        But, the Muslim Slav-led government and nationalist Croatian forces
failed to live up to promises to release Serbian inmates from their
camps, an ICRC report said.
        Manjaca, a former Yugoslav army storage facility, once held about 4,
300 inmates.
        They were captured by Serbian forces fighting since last March to rip
a self-declared state out of Bosnia-Herzegovina, a former Yugoslav
republic of 1.9 million Muslim Slavs, 1.4 million Christian Orthodox
Serbs and 750,000 Roman Catholic Croats.
        Many inmates were sent to Manjaca from nearby Omarska, a camp set up
in a defunct ore mine that Serbian authorities closed last summer amid a
storm of outrage over allegations of human rights abuses, including
torture and executions.
        A report by former Polish premier Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the special
rapporteur of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, said prisoners in
Manjaca lived under severe conditions.
        All three sides in the conflict have been accused of abusing
prisoners. But, international human rights groups and Western
governments say that the scale of the abuses perpetrated by the Serbs
far outweighs those committed by the Croats and Muslim Slavs.
=========================================================================
Subject: Abysmal conditions in freezing, resource-short Sarajevo hospitals

        SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (UPI) -- The worst-case scenario feared
by U.N. aid workers for months is fast becoming reality for war-ravaged
Sarajevo and the hundreds of thousands of people trapped inside by
encircling Serbian guns.
        Night-time temperatures are already below freezing and within two
weeks, the mercury will drop to near zero degrees Fahrenheit.
        The estimated 380,000 residents and refugees, struggling to survive
in apartments and homes devastated by Serbian shellfire, endured an 11th
day Wednesday without electricity and a third day without running water.
U.N. food supplies have run out.
        Nutrition-short families huddle for warmth before makeshift wood-
burning stoves in the basements of wrecked buildings. Children forage
for firewood on frigid and desolate hillsides already stripped of trees.
        City intersections are crowded with people braving rain and snow in
search of a lift from the few cars which remain on the road.
        Nowhere is the misery of winter under siege more tangible than in the
city's two main hospitals.
        The State Hospital ran out of diesel fuel for its generator at the
beginning of the week. It was given enought by the U.N. Protection Force
(UNPROFOR) to allow it to have minimal electricity for eight hours for
six days.
        Doctors fear for the lives of 12 people being sustained on life-
support machines.
        The facility has no heating and receives a daily water ration by
tanker truck.
        Most of the patients are bedded in corridors and storage rooms since
the wards at the top of the building have been destroyed by Serbian
shellfire.
        ``We have infusion antibiotics only for the next two days,'' said Dr.
Branko Vujovic, the hospital director, in his frigid office. ``The
situation is critical with diesel and then with all kinds of
antibiotics.''
        ``No one has any kind of heating. It's very difficult to care for the
wounded. It's impossible to give them good assistance for healing in
these cold conditions,'' he continued. ``Quite often, the water
situation is so bad that surgeons can't wash with water, only with
antiseptics.''
        The emergency operating theater is located in a converted room next
to the building's main entrance. Surgeons operate on patients lying on
blood-soiled stretcher trolleys. The room is not sterilized, the floor
filthy.
        A sliding door separates the theater from the corridor outside, where
the wounded wait in turn to be treated. The door slides open and shut,
giving those outside a view of bloody, naked bodies stretched on the
trolleys.
        The area around the State Hospital is within sniper range of the
Serb-held neighborhood of Grbavica. Frequently, those entering the
facility have to run for cover as a murderous volley of small-calibre
bullets rakes the road outside the hospital gate.
        Doctors at Kosevo Hospital, the city's largest health care complex,
estimated that between 70 and 80 Serbian shells hit the center's
buildings or exploded in the grounds during five days of intense
fighting last week.
        Inside the main building, patients lie on beds jammed side-by-side,
with no spaces between them.
        The density of patients increases room temperature. That allows
personnel to reduce the number of rooms that have to be heated when
power is available.
        Men and women share the same wards; patients with horrific bullet and
shrapnel wounds lie next to those with less serious injuries.
        ``Conditions are critical,'' said Dr. Bedrija Purisic, a pediatrician
at the State Hospital.
        She said that treatment has been greatly impaired by the lack of
electricity, heating and water and the depletion in stocks of medicine
and surgical materials.
        ``If this lasts longer, without electricity, water and diesel,
patients lives will be in danger. Not just because of improper
treatment, but because it's impossible to deal properly with casualties
when they are brought in,'' he continued. ``These are conditions which
even healthy people could hardly stand for a long time.''
        Purisic said humanitarian food supplies delivered to Sarajevo by the
U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) had kept patients from
starving.
        The resilience and efficiency of doctors, nurses and ancillary
workers is extraordinary.
        But, the fortitude of hospital staff has been tested to the limit by
a losing battle against violence, cold and chronic restraints on the
treatment they are able to provide.
        ``I'm desperate. I'm freezing. I'm not much use,'' said Nesna Jukic,
a nurse who works shifts of 24-hours at a time at the State Hospital.
``I do what I have to do. I don't know how I can continue. I haven't
much enthusiasm for anything.''
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