Security Council acts six more times on Yugoslav crisis.

• Position: United Nations - Includes related articles on Commission on Human Rights and on Yugoslavia membership

Up to 400,000 people could die from the cold and hunger without emergency assitance in the new State of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the winter of 1992, a UN official warned in Geneva on 29 September. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) predicted that only an immediate and huge international effort could save those people.

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, describing the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, called it "one of the worst humanitarian emergencies of our time".

"Many lives are at risk", he said on 4 September in launching a consolidated appeal for $434 million in humanitarian assistance - food, shelter and health services - for victims of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons were facing the prospect of a harsh winter without adequate food and shelter, he said.

A grim picture of conditions was also painted by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata. Refugees had been subjected to "horrifying atrocities", through systematic expulsions, forcible relocations, assassinations and other forms of persecution "aimed at persons for no other reason but their national, ethnic or religious origin", Mrs. Ogata said. The policy of "ethnic cleansing" lay at the heart of the conflict.

The potential for displacement in the coming months was "frightening". She observed: "The perversion of minds seems so violent, the destruction of houses so colossal that rebuilding of both may rapidly become impossible. We are poised on the edge of a humanitarian nightmare."

Almost 3 million people, she said, trapped in besieged cities and regions, were directly affected by the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina and dependent on external aid. "The numbers continue to rise daily in a horrendous spiral."

A UNHCR-led inter-agency assessment mission visited the republics of the former Yugoslavia from 9 to 16 August. It reported that more than 2.7 million people had been directly affected by the crisis and needed emergency humanitarian assistance.

Mr. Boutros-Ghali said a "particularly unconscionable" aspect of the conflict was the deliberate attempt to prevent much needed relief from reaching affected populations. Without a political solution, human suffering would grow worse.

Security Council acts

Between 1 July and 30 September, the Security Council met 10 times to consider the deteriorating situation in the former Yugoslavia. It adopted six resolutions, bringing the total number of texts adopted to 19 since the Council first acted on the situation in September 1991 (see UN Chronicle, September 1992).

During those three months, it also issued several presidential statements, most dealing with the progressively worsening situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its capital city of Sarajevo.

In a bid to find solutions to the ongoing impasse, the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, jointly organized by the UN and the European Community (EC), was held in London on 26 and 27 August. British Prime Minister John Major, acting on behalf of the EC, who co-chaired the conference with Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali, said the meeting achieved significant results.

On 25 August, the General Assembly, in resolution 46/242, urged the Council to take further measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter to end the fighting in and restore the unity and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In a special resumed session on 13 and 14 August, the UN Commission on Human Rights met on the situation in the former Yugoslavia and condemned "ethnic cleansing" and the human rights violations, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

An international airlift to provide humanitarian assistance to Sarajevo and its environs had delivered more than 12,000 tonnes of desperately needed food, medicine and other relief supplies by 3 September, when it was suspended following the shooting-down of an Italian Air Force plane participating in the airlift.

It was announced on 20 August that the 15,000-strong United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) - established on 21 February by the Council to create the conditions of peace and security required for the negotiation of an overall settlement of the Yugoslavia crisis - had so far suffered 12 fatal casualties.

Emergency airlift

begins

Following the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Sarajevo airport on 29 June, the UN began an emergency airlift on 3 July to provide humanitarian assistance to 450,000 residents of the besieged city of Sarajevo and its environs. Before the airlift, the city had been cut off by fierce fighting for three months. Many families had had nothing to eat but bread, noodles or rice.

On 1 July, the Secretary-General reported (S/24222) to the Security Council President that the situation in Sarajevo, in particular in relation to the airport, "remains preoccupying" in view of continued fighting. Following consultations on 2 July, Council President Jose Luis Jesus of Cape Verde strongly appealed to all parties involved to cooperate fully with UNPROFOR and the UN, in order to reach a complete cease-fire in and around Sarajevo.

Planes from nearly 20 countries participated in the airlift, coordinated by UNHCR and UNPROFOR. After unloading, supplies were taken by UNHCR to five main warehouses in the city, then distributed by local humanitarian organizations to 102 municipal districts.

On 13 July, the Council authorized the Secretary-General to deploy immediately additional UNPROFOR elements to ensure the security and functioning of Sarajevo airport and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

In unanimously adopting resolution 764 (1992), the Council demanded that all parties and others concerned cooperate fully with UNPROFOR and international humanitarian agencies to facilitate the evacuation by air of cases of special humanitarian concern and to facilitate provision of aid to other areas of Bosnia and...