31.   They were still helping aid convoys get through and so were fulfilling their U.N. mandate, he said.

32.   Those steps would include granting free movement to U.N. aid convoys and troops, many of whom have been held as virtual hostages by the Serbs in recent weeks.

33.   To facilitate aid convoys moving through Kosovo would require NATO to suspend air strikes along those routes.

34.   U.N. officials said the Serbs have refused to allow aid convoys into the enclaves.

35.   With aid convoys blocked, battles raging, and tensions acute, they have generally been reduced to waiting and watching.

36.   Yugoslavia has made similar claims in the past even as its aid convoys continue moving across the border.

37.   Peter Kessler, a UNHCR spokesman in Zagreb, said Serbs have again refused to let U.N. aid convoys through.

38.   Other aid convoys have crossed from Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

39.   Other conditions are opening Sarajevo airport and free movement of U.N. forces and aid convoys.

40.   Peacekeepers fought back several times last week, firing heavy mortar rounds at nearby Serb anti-aircraft positions targeting Igman, to secure the road for aid convoys.