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Scheduled Release of Dozens Yields Freedom for Four
(SARAJEVO, April 1—Reuters) Bosnian Serb forces released four prisoners of war on Monday but failed to live up to their promise to free all the detainees they held, witnesses said. Both the Bosnian Croats and the Bosnian Serbs brought buses of prisoners to a crossing in central Bosnia but negotiations then ensued that caused a general release to collapse, an International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman said. "The rest are now going back where they came from," said the ICRC's Corinne Adam.

Under the Bosnian peace plan all prisoners should have been released more than two months ago and Bosnian Serb prime minister Rajko Kasagic promised on Saturday his side would finally comply.

Adam said she had no details on the numbers involved, the reason the prisoner release collapsed or the identity of the four freed.

Bosnian Serbs now hold 23 prisoners, the Muslim-led Bosnian government holds 27 and the Bosnian Croats 40. Peace mediators say all sides prefer to exchange their prisoners like cattle rather than free them without condition as they promised. International negotiators have threatened to withhold reconstruction aid unless the problem is solved.


International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Germany Threatens Loss of Aid if Prisoners Not Released by Midnight Berserkistan, March 31


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