Former Olympic Village Split by Dayton
Is Scene of Latest Sarajevo Ethnic Unrest
(SARAJEVO, March 21—Reuters) In the western Sarajevo suburb of Dobrinja, U.N. monitors reported gunfire and a car explosion that killed its occupant. Federation police were warning civilians to stay away from the area after Serb police snatched three Muslim men from the road on Tuesday and hauled them away for questioning.Civilians steered clear of ethnic dividing lines in a disputed Sarajevo suburb on Thursday as Bosnian government and Serb representatives discussed its future. NATO sources said Serbs wanted most of Dobrinja one and Dobrinja four districts which are close to Sarajevo airport. French peacekeeping troops reinforced U.N. police patrolling Dobrinja amid reports that Serbs who have vowed to remain in control of the district were smuggling in guns. "We've ordered a stepped up presence in support of the IPTF (U.N. International Police Task Force)," said Major Simon Haselock, a NATO spokesman.
U.N. police spokesman Alexander Ivanko reported that the situation in the former Olympic village of Dobrinja had deteriorated significantly. Dobrinja was built to provide housing for the 1984 winter Olympics. Districts Dobrinja One and Dobrinja Four were frontlines in the 43-month Bosnian war and remain divided. Although government troops and Bosnian Serb army residents have withdrawn from the front lines, a de facto boundary exists over which few people pass. That de facto boundary is about two hundred meters north of a formal dividing line agreed at the Dayton peace conference last year. The Dayton line actually bisects some of the apartment buildings in the area. Serbs, many of them refugees, have occupied housing in the disputed area and have vowed to fight rather than leave or live next to returning Muslims or Croats. Dayton provided that federation and republic leaders could adjust the boundary but they have been unable to reach agreement so far, leaving Dobrinja residents in limbo.
"We have unconfirmed reports of guns being smuggled in to the Serb population there. It is certainly the most tense area around Sarajevo. We have 31 monitors working in the area and we are patrolling around the clock," he said.
Federation police should have been able to start patrolling the disputed area on Wednesday, making it possible for displaced Muslims and Croats to begin returning home. But the word went out that a last effort would be made by Bosnian officials to resolve the dispute on Thursday and federation police remained on their side of the de facto boundary for the moment.
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