Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 3, 1993 TAG: 9308030202
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM LENGTH: Medium
The NATO declaration came after one of the longest meetings on record of the North Atlantic Council, NATO's political forum.
Ambassadors of the 16 NATO countries wrangled for nearly 12 hours over a U.S. proposal to subject Serb gunners surrounding Sarajevo to the alliance's formidable air power. President Clinton said on Monday that he believed the allies would authorize the American proposal.
The Atlantic alliance said it "has decided to make immediate preparations for undertaking . . . stronger measures including air strikes against those responsible, Bosnian Serbs and others, in Bosnia-Herzegovina."
Although the NATO declaration focused mainly on the 16-month-old Serb siege of Sarajevo, the Croats have also come under increasing criticism for atrocities against Muslims.
If NATO ultimately agreed to hit Serb positions from the air, it would mark the first time in the military alliance's history that it undertook an offensive capacity. NATO was founded in 1949 to defend against invasion from the Soviet bloc.
Officials said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization planned to meet again next Monday to hear the recommendations of NATO military advisers on the logistics of protecting Sarajevo through air cover.
The statement stressed that any implementation would have to occur under the shield of the United Nations.
U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said Monday it was his prerogative to decide first on air strikes.
Sarajevo was surrounded by insurgent Bosnian Serb forces shortly after the Muslims and ethnic Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from the Serb-dominated Yugoslav federation 16 months ago.
The city has been under constant artillery and sniper fire from the encircling hills since then, with power, electricity, drinking water and food in short supply or at times absent.
The U.S. plan would use NATO warplanes to break the Serb encirclement and increase the humanitarian aid getting in.
by CNB