CNN Mission: Peace

Serbs continue to flee Sarajevo

February 20, 1996
Web posted at: 10:20 p.m. EST (0320 GMT)

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- Reassurances from Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic that the Sarajevo Serbs have nothing to fear fell on deaf ears as Serbs families continued to abandon the city Tuesday.

The exodus comes days before the first of five Serb districts is to be transferred to the Muslim-led Bosnian government.

Serbs out

Western diplomats say an estimated 50,000 people remain in the five Serb neighborhoods slated to be handed to the government. The pre-war population of the Serb-held areas was 120,000.

Gojko Klickovic, the Bosnian Serb official responsible for resettling Sarajevo Serbs, said he expected 18,000 people to be evacuated over the next two days.

Most Serb leaders vehemently oppose the provision in the Bosnia peace accord that reunites the country's symbolic heart, Sarajevo, under Bosnian government control by March 19. NATO plans to begin a gradual transfer Friday.

Bosnian Serbs political leader Radovan Karadzic, who has been indicted by an international war crimes tribunal, insists that Serbs cannot coexist with other ethnic groups in the capital.

The peace accord partitions the country into two entities -- one Serb, the other a Muslim-Croat federation.

The United States Tuesday said it is concerned about reports indicating Bosnian Serb leaders are encouraging the inhabitants of Serb suburbs of Sarajevo to leave in advance of the transfer of power.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns called the decision to leave "precipitous," saying it was too early to know if the Bosnian Serbs were pressured to leave by the leaders.

Burns said the Dayton peace agreement enshrined freedom of movement, but that the United States would take a dim view of any coercive measures used by the Bosnian Serb leadership.

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AP contributed to this report.

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