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- THE WEEK, Page 17WORLDPressuring the Serbs To Back Off
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- Europe and the U.S. warn of sanctions and produce a truce
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- Replaying the bloody land grab they inflicted on Croatia last
- year, Serbian irregular forces backed by the Serb-led Yugoslav
- army have carved out a slice of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Last week
- the Serbs redoubled their efforts, capturing several towns and
- trying to seize part of the capital city, Sarajevo. Now that the
- 12-nation European Community and the U.S. have recognized the
- independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Serbs are no longer
- simply aggressors but international aggressors.
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- As a result, warnings from abroad turned tougher. The E.C.
- set April 29 as a deadline for Serbia to halt the fighting. If
- it did not, it would face "the greatest possible international
- pressure," a German Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Bonn. "We
- are leaving open a whole range of options in the political,
- diplomatic and economic fields." In Washington the State
- Department denounced the Serbian attacks and also condemned
- counterattacks by Croatian and Slavic Muslim militias as
- obstacles to a peaceful solution. "We're calling on everyone to
- please do whatever they can" to end the shooting, said State's
- spokeswoman, Margaret Tutwiler.
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- Although a cease-fire arranged two weeks ago has been
- repeatedly violated, the E.C. tried again. Its chief negotiator,
- Britain's Lord Carrington, flew to Sarajevo and worked out
- another truce among Bosnia's Muslims, Croats and Serbs and the
- federal army. Leaders of the warring groups promised to observe
- the cease-fire and reopen negotiations, but such pledges in the
- past have gone unfulfilled.
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