Hostilities increased around Sarajevo Monday after Bosnian Serbs and the Muslim-led government signed a U.N.-brokered agreement to end sniping.
The agreement signed Sunday took effect at noon Monday, and U.N. officials said both sides appeared to be observing it during the first few hours. The agreement prohibits sniping attacks on civilians, soldiers and U.N. personnel in the Sarajevo area and is to be enforced with the help of U.N. soldiers.Two people in the capital, which is controlled by Bosnia's Muslim-led government, have been killed by snipers and at least 20 wounded in the past three weeks.
Increased sniper activity was one indicator of the fraying cease-fire that had kept Sarajevo mostly quiet since February. U.N. officials Monday reported 742 violations of the cease-fire in a 24-hour period over the weekend.
"It is one of the highest numbers reported lately," spokesman Col. Bertrand Labarsouque said.
The spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers, Maj. Rob Annink, said the violations included sniping by both sides around the Holiday Inn, home to many of the foreign diplomats and journalists in the city. He said U.N. anti-sniper teams returned fire.
Other violations were reported south of Sarajevo near Mount Igman, a strategic peak overlooking the city where U.N. officials also spotted movement of Bosnian army units, Labarsouque said.
U.N. officials met representatives of the Bosnian government army to work out the details of implementing the sniping agreement. A similar meeting was planned with Serb military leaders.
The two sides also promised to stop shooting at U.N. planes. Recent attacks forced suspensions of the humanitarian airlift to the capital.
Countless other agreements between the warring sides have failed.
"Out of all previous agreements, maybe we expect the most from this one," Hasan Muratovic, a Bosnian government minister who signed the agreement, told state radio.