BRITAIN VOWS TO QUIT BOSNIA IF WAR GOES ON
Britain is threatening to remove its troops and cancel all aid efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina if the Serbs refuse to make concessions at Nov. 29 peace talks in Geneva. Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd issued the warning Nov. 22 ahead of an EC foreign ministers' meeting.
An estimated 2.7 million Bosnians will need aid to survive the winter. Britain and France have borne the brunt of protecting aid convoys in Bosnia, and the warning reflects a somber mood here that popular support for the aid effort will wane if the war continues.
The Geneva talks will center on an EC proposal, sponsored by France and Germany, to ease sanctions progressively if the Bosnian Serbs agree to cede more land to the Muslims.
EC mediator Lord Owen said a Serb concession of 4 percent would be a starting point, but Jonathan Eyal of the London-based Royal United Services Institute, says ``the Muslims want the return of territory that connects up their communities.''
The London Times caught the mood of politicians when it commented on Nov. 22: ``If a weary world decides that no party in Bosnia wants peace, it may ask why it is risking its own troops' lives there.''