91. UN peace-keepers Wednesday began withdrawing from the Bosnian Bihac enclave as NATO officials considered plans for a complete withdrawal of the blue helmets. 92. UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali was also to attend the ceremony marking the handoff of the peacekeeping mission from US troops to UN blue helmets. 93. There were also several shooting incidents in the Moslem-held eastern enclave of Gorazde where British blue helmets twice came under fire from Serb positions. 94. UNPROFOR has suggested the Serbs are bent on escalating tension with blue helmets on the ground. 95. Last Friday, the Security Council voted to restructure the blue helmet operation in former Yugoslavia, splitting the protection force into three parts. 96. Ministers will gather at the coastal resort of Noordwijk north of The Hague to discuss primarily a possible withdrawal of blue helmets from Bosnia. 97. NATO leaders have been studying possible scenarios to strengthen the security of UN blue helmets including possibly massing contingents around Sarajevo and other key areas. 98. Normally, if there are no casualties or the risk to life is not considered significant, the blue helmets ignore them. 99. On the ground, the under-equipped and under-manned blue helmets considered the idea of trying to defend the enclaves as a grim joke. 100. Petropavlosky, who earlier served as a blue helmet in Cambodia, said he had much happier memories of his time there. |