SREBRENICA WOMEN BLOCK ICRC PREMISES IN TUZLA

TUZLA, Jan 29 (Hina) - About 1,500 women from Srebrenica today rallied around the International Red Cross office in Tuzla, demanding that the ICRC and other international agencies stop dragging their feet over locating 10,000 of their menfolk. The protest began this morning after a delegation of Srebrenica women demanded that family members of the missing Srebrenica men be allowed to travel to Srebrenica under IFOR protection, to point out mass grave sites and jails to international officials. "We know the exact locations where our dearest are imprisoned," the representatives said. Unsatisfied with the response of ICRC officials, the women that had gathered outside the building broke the ground-floor windows and streamed in. Shouting that they would not budge until their husbands and sons were found, the wrathful women blocked the entrance, imprisoning the staff together with a group of foreign reporters, inside the building. The women who remained outside the building blocked all traffic on Tuzla's main thoroughfare, making it impossible for vehicles to enter or exit the city. They stoned a police vehicle and broke the windscreen of several cars which had tried to pass their barriers. The police, however, prevented the further advance of the demonstrators. In a statement forwarded to Hina, the ICRC "urged the Bosnian Government to take immediate action to ensure the safety if ICRC personnel and property." "Furthermoere, the ICRC requests the concerned authorities to publicly reaffirm their unconditional support for the ICRC's attempts to provide the families with urgently needed information about persons still unaccounted for," the statement said. The Moslem enclave of Srebrenica (eastern Bosnia) was declared a UN safe haven in early 1993. The enclave was occupied in July 1995. Despite the guarantees given by Serb forces that the population would be allowed to leave the area unmolested, about 10,000 Srebrenica men have been reported missing. There have been reports of possible mass grave sites in the area. (hina) mm as 292020 MET jan 96