U.N. OFFICIALS NOT ALLOWED TO VISIT KIDNAPPED BOSNIAN REPORTER

SARAJEVO, Jan 31 (Hina) - Self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb authorities today refused to allow UNPROFOR officials to visit Bosnian TV journalist Namik Berberovic imprisoned in the Serb-held Sarajevo district of Ilidza. Serbs kidnapped Berberovic five days ago while travelling in a UN armoured vehicle to Sarajevo airport, and accused him of carrying propaganda material. UNPROFOR spokesman Alexander Ivanko told reporters in Sarajevo that Serbs held Berberovic as a prisoner of war. Serbs made it a condition that they would allow UN officials to visit Berberovic only if foreign journalists were allowed to visit a Moslem-run prison in Tarcin, Ivanko said. Ivanko rejected it as blackmail and warned Serbs that Berberovic was not a prisoner of war but an illegally arrested civilian. Top UN officials in Bosnia, including Gen. Smith, would again call on Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic to release Berberovic. Ivanko appealed to the press not to let Berberovic become another number on a prisoners of war list. (Hina) jn rv vm 311513 MET jan 95