Upping The Pressure On Serbian Aggression

Finally, impelled by scenes of civilian slaughter in Sarajevo, the U.S. and its European allies went to work last week to impose economic sanctions on Serbia. The Serbs, who fill the ranks of both regular and irregular forces, are now seen as the main aggressors in the war in the ruins of Yugoslavia.

Though the Serbs make up only a third of the population of Bosnia- Herzegovina , they are, says U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia Warren Zimmermann, "trying to take over two-thirds of the country." In their campaign to carve out a Greater Serbia and expel Croats and Slavic Muslims, the Serbs have created hundreds of thousands of refugees; Serbs have been pushed out by Croats and Muslims in response. U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said it was the largest uprooting of population "in Europe since the Second World War."

In Brussels the European Community imposed limited economic sanctions on the rump Yugoslav state at midweek. The Serbian Orthodox Church said it was "openly distancing itself" from the government in Belgrade. Then came the revolting images of death in Sarajevo's marketplace and the U.S., Britain and France pressed the U.N. Security Council to impose full, mandatory sanctions.

Russia and China, who are permanent members of the Council, had been reluctant to go along with the sanctions plan. Its measures range from a complete trade embargo, including oil shipments, to cutting air links and freezing Serbian assets abroad. After quiet negotiations, the Security Council passed the resolution Saturday. Even so, no one was predicting that Serbia and its hard-nosed President Slobodan Milosevic would quickly move to end the bloodshed. (See cover stories beginning on page 32.)