AIR STRIKES WOULD JEOPARDISE NEGOTIATIONS, UNPROFOR SAYS

SARAJEVO, May 9 (Hina) - The UN Commander in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gen. Rupert Smith, yesterday called for a punitive NATO air strike against Bosnian Serbs, in response to the Sunday ttack on the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Butmir. But air strikes were given up after consultations with UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi and Force Commander Gen. Janvier, UN spokesman Alexander Ivanko told a Sarajevo press conference. Ten (10) Sarajevans were killed and 40 were wounded in the Butmir attack. But UNPROFOR estimated that air strikes against Serbs would be an obstacle to negotiations, Ivanko explained. Despite UNPROFOR's anxiety to ensure that nothing impeded negotiations with Serbs, yesterday's Pale talks on the functioning of Sarajevo airport, were anything but fruitful. Bosnian Serbs insisted on being given the authority to search all travellers and otherwise control the airport. They threatened to shoot at all civilian vehicles that came to the airport via the Bosnian army-controlled neighbourhood of Dobrinja. Over 2,000 armed incidents have been reported in Sarajevo in the past 24 hours, including mortar exhanges. The Serbs blocked two UN-controlled heavy-artillery storage areas in the greater Sarajevo area. Seven shells from two Serb tanks were fired at the Sedrenik neighbourhood last night. Spokesman Gary Coward was unable to say where these tanks were now. Commenting on Silajdzic's statement that the Serbs had 225 pieces of artillery, including 33 tanks, in the exclusion zone, Coward said he "did not know about any such number" but confirmed that artillery was indeed plentiful in the exclusion zone. (hina) jn as 091535 MET may 95