protesters

Bosnian Serbs view NATO arrival with resentment, relief

December 4, 1995
Web posted at: 4:50 p.m. EST (2150 GMT)

From Correspondent Brent Sadler

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN)-- Multi-national NATO troops entering this strife-torn region to enforce peace Monday were greeted by Bosnian Serbs with varying degrees of resentment, fear and relief.

soldiers In Bosnian Serb districts of Sarajevo, recent demonstrations purported to illustrate the depth of determined opposition to the handover of Serb suburbs to the Bosnian government.

Many of the Bosnian Serbs have been encouraged by their leadership to believe that a bitter and bloody campaign of retribution by their former enemies could follow disarmament and territorial handover.

"I don't trust them," said a Bosnian Serb soldier in reference to his Muslim neighbors. "I never trusted them and I don't want to trust them."

The concerns of Bosnian Serbs about possible Bosnian reprisal also was shared by a U.N. commander, Gen. Jean-Rene Bachelet, the commander of French troops in Sarajevo. He touched off a political firestorm last week when he was quoted as saying that Sarajevo Serbs had a stark choice to make -- a suitcase or a coffin.

Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has stressed that the issue of Sarajevo has to be resolved before the Paris treaty is signed on December 14. Otherwise, he said, the plan's implementation would be in "terrible risk." (102K AIFF sound or 102K WAV sound)

Throughout the nearly four-year-long war, the Bosnian Serb leadership never envisaged that it would lose control of Sarajevo. For them, it has been a bitter pill to swallow.

While the Serbs are desperate to see the accord revised in their favor, U.S. President Bill Clinton has asserted that it will not happen. Instead, he and NATO have embarked on a strategy of attack as the best form of defense; they have told alliance troops that they can fire if threatened with just a whisper of hostility.

Bosnian Serbs view NATO arrival with resentment, relief

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