SERB ARMOURED CARRIER SPOTTED ALONG UN-SUPERVISED HIGHWAY

SLAVONSKI BROD, Jan 25 (Hina) - Slavonski Brod Police Department deputy chief Pavo Kesic and Slavonski Brod County prefect Jozo Meter yesterday criticized the UNPROFOR Civil Police supervising traffic on the Zagreb-Lipovac highway in UN Sector West. Speaking to a press conference, Kesic said that under the pretext of controlling the traffic, groups of armed Serbs yesterday stopped several cars and trucks entering UN Sector West. The vehicles were held up on a stretch of the highway under UNPROFOR control, Kesic stressed. Rebel Serbs seized 20 litres of fuel from a truck driver while car drivers were compelled to give them tins of juice, cigarettes and newpapers, Kesic said. He added that a Serb armoured carrier with armed men had been spotted outside the fence along the highway. Kesic expressed concern that such incidents had happened in the presence of UN personnel. Meter accused the UN Civil Police of fraternizing with local Serbs because they helped in organizing celebrations and parties. It had been agreed that UN personnel would be accommodated in the police compound in Slobodnica, a village near Slavonski Brod, but instead they chose to be billeted on local Serbs in the villages of Trnjani and Garcin, Meter protested. He called on the Croatian government and UNPROFOR to urgently solve these problems. (hina) mm vm 251142 MET jan 95