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- WORLD, Page 31World NotesYUGOSLAVIATrying for a Lasting Truce
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- The area was peaceful, the weather clear, and the two white
- helicopters flying toward Zagreb prominently displayed the
- insignia of the European Community's monitoring mission.
- Nevertheless, a Yugoslav army MiG-21 fighter fired four
- air-to-air missiles, scoring a direct hit on one chopper,
- killing all five observers -- four Italian and one French -- on
- board.
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- The victims' coffins, draped with E.C. flags during a
- memorial service in Zagreb's cathedral the next evening, were
- a bleak reminder that peace will not come easily to Yugoslavia
- after six months of civil war. The federal military was quick
- to refer to "an unwanted and tragic event," and the
- Serb-controlled federal government offered requisite apologies.
- But a shake-up in the top military command solidifying Serb
- dominance led to fresh worries that the army might not fully
- support the cease-fire. As the U.N. dispatched observers over
- the weekend to monitor the fragile peace, the truce appeared to
- be holding. Said a European diplomat in Zagreb: "Every quiet day
- is a great gift; we've all learned to be modest in our hopes."
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