Tragedy continues with 'no sign of abatement'; international tribunal established.

• Position: Yugoslavia and Bosnian civil war - United Nations developments

Fighting in the former Yugoslavia, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, continued unabated despite arduous peacemaking efforts by the UN, the European Community and the Co-Chairmen of the Steering Committee of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia. During April, May and June 1993, cease-fire agreements did not hold for long, and renewed hostilities again resulted in hundreds of dead and wounded.

Negotiations, while initially promising a positive outcome, eventually turned out to be unsuccessful, with setbacks ensuing from the parties' intransigence and refusal to cooperate and make compromises.

In resolution 827 (1993), the Security Council on 25 May set up an International Tribunal to prosecute those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia.

Sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) were further strengthened and the country was denied participation in the work of the Economic and Social Council.

Between 1 April and 30 June, the Council met, either formally or for consultations, on 18 occasions, adopting 13 resolutions and issuing 6 statements.

Thorvald Stoltenberg, Foreign Minister of Norway, on 1 May succeeded Cyrus Vance as Co-Chairman of the Conference Steering Committee. On 14 May, he also became the Secretary-General's Special Representative for the former Yugoslavia. Knut Vollebaek, another Norwegian diplomat, was named Deputy to Mr. Stoltenberg on 8 June.

With little prospect for peace, international relief efforts were dwindling and the worsening humanitarian situation in the former Yugoslavia threatened to provoke a "massive disaster". Refugee populations were swelling, with suffering people more destitute and desperate.

Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, reported "massive and repeated" violations of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, stating that the Yugoslav humanitarian tragedy knew "no ethnic boundaries".

International relief organizations, such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP), did not have enough resources to provide humanitarian aid. The gap between the needs and funds actually received was growing wider.

Another aggravating factor was the deliberate targeting of humanitarian personnel and blocking of aid convoys, which was increasingly becoming part of the warring parties' military strategies.

To break

the deadlock

After signing the Vance-Owen peace plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina on 2 May in Athens, the Bosnian Serbs then rejected it in a 15 and 16 May referendum.

To break the deadlock, a proposal to organize Bosnia and Herzegovina into a confederation - which contained the basic elements of the Vance - Owen plan - was brought up by Serbia and Croatia on 23 June, after consultations with leaders of the Bosnian Serbs and Croats. The Co-Chairmen, without taking any position on the draft, suggested some amendments. The Bosnian Presidency, while rejecting the very idea of division along ethnic principles, set up a group to consider the proposal.

In a move to protect Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zepa, Gorazde, Bihac and Srebrenica from bombardments and attacks, the Council declared on 16 April and 6 May that they should be treated as "safe areas". It also authorized the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) to use force to implement that policy.

UNPROFOR was "badly strained" too. It already had 548 casualties, including 51 fatalities, in the former Yugoslavia. Although augmented by 7,600 men, the Force urgently needed more troops and materiel to implement its mandate, which was extended until 30 September.

Not only was there widespread fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the humanitarian operations were "obstructed or sabotaged for military purposes", the Co-Chairmen reported on 6 July (S/26066).

The "stark realities" were that there was "little prospect for implementing the safe areas policy" before new resources arrived, they warned. And the civilian population would face "devastating hardship", unless UNPROFOR focused on efforts to restore utilities and humanitarian relief deliveries.

While it was "obviously of paramount importance" to sustain the humanitarian effort for as long as possible, there was a "real risk" that, if the present "downward spiral" continued, it would be impossible for the UN to remain in the area, the Co-Chairmen concluded.

The grave situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina was discussed in the Council from 19 to 20 April. Participants called for urgent action before witnessing the disappearance of a UN Member State "before the Council's very eyes", while that body was "powerless to prevent it".

Resolution 819:

|Safe area' proclaimed

Bosnian Serb paramilitary units must immediately withdraw from areas surrounding Srebrenica and cease their armed attacks against that town, the Security Council stated on 16 April.

In unanimously adopting resolution 819 (1993), the Council demanded that all parties concerned treat Srebrenica and its surroundings as a "safe area which should be free from any armed attack or any other hostile act".

The Secretary-general was asked, with a view to monitoring the humanitarian situation in the safe area, to take immediate steps to increase UNPROFOR's presence in Srebrenica. A decision to send a mission of Council members to Bosnia and Herzegovina to ascertain the situation was also taken.

Further, the Council demanded the "unimpeded delivery" of humanitarian assistance to all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and asked the Secretary-General to arrange for the safe transfer of ill and wounded civilians from Srebrenica and its surroundings. All parties must guarantee the safety and full freedom of movement of UNPROFOR and other personnel of the UN and humanitarian organizations, the Council stated.

It demanded that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia immediately cease the supply of military arms, equipment and services to the Bosnian Serb paramilitary units in Bosnia and Herzegovina and "take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of the crime of genocide"

Bosnian Serbs' deliberate actions to force the evacuation of civilians from Srebrenica and other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina were condemned and rejected as part of their "overall abhorrent campaign of |ethnic cleansing'".

Resolutions 820, 821:

Tougher sanctions enacted

A decision to strengthen sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) - Fry - was taken by the Security Council on 17 April, when it adopted resolution 820 (1993) by a vote of 13 to none, with 2 abstentions (China and Russian Federation).

Tougher sanctions were to prevent diversion to the FRY of commodities and products "said to be destined for other places", and to freeze its funds held in other States to "ensure that they are not made available directly or indirectly to or for the benefit" of the FRY authorities.

However, "desirous of achieving the full readmittance" of the FRY to the international community, the Council expressed its readiness - after all three Bosnian parties had accepted the Vance-Owen peace plan - to reconsider its sanctions "with a view to gradually lifting them".

Another punitive measure against the Federal Republic was taken by the General Assembly on 29 April. Acting on the recommendation made in Council resolution 821 (1993) of 28 April, the Assembly decided that the FRY should not participate in the work of the Economic and Social Council. A 37-power text was adopted as resolution 47/229 by a vote of 109 to none, with 11 abstentions.

Earlier, the Assembly decided that the FRY could not automatically succeed to the seat of the former Yugoslavia, but instead would have to apply for membership. In adopting resolution 47/1 of 22 September 1992, it also stated that the FRY in the meantime could not participate in the work of the Assembly.

The Assembly's action was an "incredulous example of exerting pressure on Yugoslavia" to stop the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to which it was "not a party", the FRY stated on 29 April (A/47/936-S/25707). Resolution 47/229 was an "affront" to its "constant efforts" in search of a just and lasting settlement to all aspects of the crisis and hostilities in the former Yugoslavia, it claimed.

Resolution 824:

Five areas added

On 6 May, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zepa, Gorazde and Bihac were declared "safe areas". Acting unanimously on resolution 824 (1993), the Council also authorized the strengthening of UNPROFOR by an additional 50 military observers to monitor the humanitarian situation in those areas.

All parties and others concerned were called upon to "cooperate fully and promptly" with the Force and respect the rights of UNPROFOR and the international humanitarian agencies to "free and unimpeded access to all safe areas".

In the event of any party failing to comply with resolution 824, the Council declared its readiness to consider immediately the adoption of "any additional measures" necessary to ensure its full implementation.

Demanding that "any taking of territory by force" must cease immediately, the Council declared that its present action would remain in force "up until the provisions for the cessation of hostilities, separation of forces and supervision of heavy weaponry"...