The Croatian army and rebel Serbs called another truce Wednesday - the third in as many days - and agreed to let tens of thousands of refugees leave the war zone under U.N. escort.
Unlike the previous cease-fires, however, this one appeared to be working, after a lag of several hours. The U.N.-brokered agreement took effect at 7 a.m., and the United Nations said guns fell silent along the road into Bosnia in the early afternoon.Many refugees had been trapped by fighting that raged along the borders they were trying to reach.
The agreement - more specific than the previous truces - called for the Serbs to turn over all heavy weapons to the United Nations and stop fighting in the area south of Zagreb where an unknown number of Serb soldiers were holding out against a five-day Croatian army offensive to retake rebel lands.
In exchange, Croatia would open a corridor for rebel fighters and Serb civilians from the area where they are trapped east into Serb-led Yugoslavia. The United Nations would provide fuel and escort for the refugee convoys, which could begin as early as Wednesday, said U.N. spokesman Yuri Shishaev.
"The cease-fire was concluded, and I hope that it will enable safe passage for civilians and military," said Yasushi Akashi, the top U.N. official for the former Yugoslavia.
Serb fighters began turning over heavy weapons to U.N. collection sites near Topusko, 40 miles south of Zagreb, said Maj. Rita LePage, a U.N. spokeswoman.
And while fighting raged farther south on the road leading from Topusko into Bosnia, around the border town of Dvor, the shooting stopped in the early afternoon, U.N. officials said.
The Croatian army and the Muslim-led Bosnian army, which crossed into southern Croatia in support of its Croat allies, had been battling rebel Serbs, who held the town.
U.N. officials in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo said the army had agreed to withdraw from southern Croatia. The army's command said Bosnian forces were turning over positions to Croat troops, but not weapons and artillery they captured from the Serbs.
Croatia's offensive, which began with an attack on the rebel Serb heartland at dawn Friday, has created the largest single wave of refugees since fighting broke out in the former Yugoslavia four years ago.
Red Cross and U.N. officials say about 90,000 refugees have made their way into Serb-held northern Bosnia, with another 50,000 in Croatia, trying to leave. Some estimates have put the exodus at 200,000 people.