GRAVE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN WEST BOSNIA, UNHCR SAID

SARAJEVO, Nov 1 (Hina) - No humanitarian aid had been dispatched to part of western Bosnia controlled by the Bosnian Army since September, a spokesman for UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman, Peter Kessler, said today in Sarajevo. He described the situation in western Bosnia as extremely grave. Serbs, situated in the occupied area of Croatia, imposed the complete blockade on UNHCR convoys carrying food for western Bosnia's inhabitants. That is why UNHCR officials considered possibilities of air drops to western Bosnia, i.e. dispatching necessary food and medicine by parachute, Kessler said. But, such an operation might be undertaken only if numerous technical obstacles due to a big number of aid-dependent persons could be removed, he added. The self-styled Serb authorities in Pale limited a free movement of UNHCR vehicles along a road toward the Sarajevo Airport. Serbs now demanded from UNHCR to announce 24 hours in advance each vehicle, so that they might let it pass their check- points. This was a blatant violation of a July 1992 agreement under which the Sarajevo Airport and its access roads were given under UN full control, Kessler said. (hina) mms 011832 MET nov 94