A PLANNED mass release of prisoners of war was aborted yesterday as panicky Serbs continued to jam roads to ferry valuables out of Sarajevo at the start of a key week in the Bosnian peace process.
International Red Cross (ICRC) officials said plans to free hundreds of prisoners still held from the 31/2 year conflict had been halted after the Bosnian government refused to give up its Serb detainees because thousands of missing Muslims were still unaccounted for.
The Dayton peace plan demands that all sides release their prisoners by Friday. The Bosnian Croats and separatist Serbs had moved to release their prisoners yesterday, said Mr Jacques de Maio of the ICRC.
A desperate rush was under way among Sarajevo Serbs to ferry out their belongings before their areas revert to Muslim led government control under the peace accord.
The narrow road leading from Serb held suburbs up Mount Trebevic was jammed with dilapidated trucks cars and tractors piled with chairs, tables, bedding and other household items.
A UN spokesman, Mr Alexander Ivanko said units of the unarmed UN international police had started patrols in Ilidza, one of the city's Serb held suburbs, in an operation intended to give Serbs the confidence to stay on rather than flee.
The Bosnian government is due to take control of the Serb areas on Friday, and by mid March government soldiers will be permitted to enter.
Along Bosnia's tortuous 1,000 km confrontation line, the Nato led peace Implementation Force (I for) is supervising mine clearance operations in what will become a "zone of separation" patrolled by foreign soldiers.
By Friday Serb, Muslim and Croat troops must withdraw from the line by 2km on either side and inform Nato of the locations of heavy weapons within 10km. Nato officials in Sarajevo said 75-80 per cent of the zone was already empty.
Two Bosnian Croat soldiers and a Bosnian Serb have been killed during the past week in mine clearing operations in southern Bosnia, a spokesman for Spanish for troops said yesterday. De mining is hampered by inaccurate mine charts.
The UNHCR said in Geneva Bosnians forced from their homes might soon be able to surf the Internet to find out whether it is safe to return to their native villages, through an "on line" repatriation service.
The Security Council yesterday created a new force of about 5,000 air troops backed by NATO power to demilitarise the last Serb held region of Croatia and eventually return it to Zagreb's control. The council vote was a unanimous 15- 0.