'Complete Lack of Cooperation' by Mostly
Muslim Force Hampers Stability of Ilidza
(SARAJEVO, March 27—Reuters) The United Nations accused Bosnian authorities on Wednesday of obstructing U.N. monitors trying to supervise mainly Muslim police in a formerly Serb-held area of Sarajevo. It said a policy of non-cooperation by units of the Bosnian Federation police in the suburb of Ilidza was undermining efforts to reassure Serbs who fled that it was safe to return.Alexander Ivanko, a spokesman for the U.N. police force, said: "Basically it's close to impossible for us to perform our duties when there is a complete lack of cooperation on the part of the federation because we are there to monitor their activities," said Ivanko.
Detainments Increasing
In a separate incident federation police detained a Bosnian Serb translator working for the U.N.'s International Police Task Force (IPTF) when he strayed out of the Grbavica suburb before it returned to Bosnian government control. The incident occurred 15 days ago but the U.N. only learned of the detention through the man's wife after Bosnian authorities denied they were holding the translator, who Ivanko said had a military background. The unnamed man has not been charged and the U.N. police have been refused permission to visit him.The IPTF said it accepted as correct Bosnian press reports that three male civilians were detained by Serbs after they strayed across city boundary lines last Friday. The three were alleged by the Serbs to have been engaged in some kind of military activity but their youth, one being aged 17 and another 18, lent more credibility to reports they were playing football, said Ivanko. The IPTF deputy commissioner was raising the matter with Bosnian Serb authorities today, the spokesman said.
The police of the Muslim-Croat Federation are mostly Muslim, although Croats and Serbs loyal to Bosnia's central government serve in its ranks. It is the only law enforcing agency allowed in areas transferred from Serb to government hands. Federation police did take steps to halt harassment by Muslim thugs of Serbs brave enough to stay in Ilidza, despite a campaign to force them out by their own leaders, but have since cut contacts with U.N. police units. Members of the IPTF were barred from Federation police operation rooms, denied work schedules and refused information on arrests and patrolling, Ivanko said. When Federation police were asked for an explanation for their behavior, they told the U.N. they were acting on "orders from above," Ivanko said.
Serbs Urged to Return to Suburbs
Thousands of Serbs fled Ilidza in an orgy of looting and destruction before the area was handed over to federation control two weeks ago. Ivanko said a trickle of Serbs had since returned, a process the U.N. wanted to encourage. "We were hoping that by (the police) cooperating with the IPTF there will be a climate of security which will allow for the movement of larger groups of refugees back to those areas. By refusing to cooperate we see a problem there." Ivanko said the U.N. police commissioner was calling on the Bosnian authorities to order Federation police to cooperate and had reminded them their actions were in violation of the Dayton peace agreement which ended Bosnia's 3½-year war.
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