Скачать или смотреть BOSNIA: RUSSIAN IFOR TROOPS CONFISCATE ILLEGAL WEAPONS

(22 Sep 1996) Natural Sound

Angry Moslems are still occupying houses in a Bosnian Serb controlled village on Sunday, a day after Russian IFOR soldiers confiscated illegal weapons from the group.

Bosnian Serb police are demanding the Moslems leave the village.

Their ultimatum has forced a tense stand-off between the two sides.

An I-FOR tank rolls into Jusici village about forty miles (30 kilometres) east of Tuzla.

Before the war, this village had been inhabited entirely by Moslems but was then overrun by Serb soldiers when fighting began.

Under the Dayton Peace accord the village is set to come under Serb control but the deal also allows for the Moslems to return to their homes.

A group of about 150 Moslems crossed the zone of separation to return to their village and now that they are there: they're refusing to budge.

When they arrived on Saturday so too did a group of Serbian police.

The Bosnian Moslems say the Serb police fired shots in the air to scare them away.

The difficult job of trying to keep the peace is left to I-FOR troops.

Russian and U-S soldiers arrived in the village in a bid to defuse the growing tension.

But they soon became the target of Moslem anger when they discovered an arms cache in the village.

Hand grenades, automatic pistols, and rifles were discovered during a house search.

Six Bosnian Moslems were detained by the I-FOR troops over the weapons find.

Shortly afterwards, an angry group of Moslem men and women turned up at the Russian command post demanding their release.

With tensions rising, the Russian commander chose to let the group go to calm the situation.

But news of the confrontation reached the Interior Minister of Republika Serbska, Dragan Kijac.

On Saturday, he was meeting his Muslim-Croat Federation counterpart and IFOR ground forces commander General Sir Michael Walker.

Discussions immediately turned to the problem of the village of Jusici.

The Serb SRNA Agency reported the Serb side refused to talk with the Muslims, demanding that the IFOR troops immediately drive out the Muslims from Serb territory.

For the moment, the troops are just looking on. They're only too aware of how easily the situation could flare-up.

A similar attempt last month by Moslems armed with rifles to enter a formerly Moslem village in Serb territory turned violent when Serb police armed with guns and clubs tried to force them from the village of Mahala.

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