Painful Relief

IN THE TANGLED EQUATION OF BALKAN POLITICS, neutrality is a chimera. That was the first painful lesson of the U.S. airdrop of food and medical supplies over Bosnia, an effort widely touted as nonmilitary in intent and, by offering help to all, evenhanded in scope. In night after night of high-altitude cargo clearing missions, U.S. C-130 aircraft parachuted tons of goods to the republic's warring multiethnic residents. But the rain of relief had unpleasant consequences. Not only did it make sniper targets out of many who ventured out to retrieve it, but it may also have helped provide cover for a massive new Serbian offensive against Bosnia's Muslim minority.

In the starving eastern town of Cerska, for example, Muslim foragers approached the airlift pallets at risk of being picked off by waiting Serb gunners. Coincidentally or not, Serb forces mounted withering attacks throughout the region, forcing thousands of civilians into frigid mountain terrain. Despite the airlift's pressure on the advancing Serbs to move pre- emptively, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher insisted that "we have no indication" it sparked the rout. The United Nations Commissioner for Refugees, however, raised the specter of a Serb "massacre" of Muslims. At week's end Serb commanders offered to allow safe passage to fleeing civilians, a move that could save lives but would also amount to what a U.N. official called "taxi service for the policy of ethnic cleansing." (See related story on page 40.)