Monday, Jan. 11, 1993

Chilly Scenes of Winter

SINCE THE START OF THE BOSNIAN TRAGEDY, FEUDing Serbs, Croats and Muslims have agreed on one assessment: wait until winter -- things will get worse. Last week, as temperatures dipped to 0 degrees F, besieged Sarajevo witnessed its first deaths by freezing. "This," warned U.N. spokesman Peter Kessler, "is the beginning of what will be hundreds, perhaps thousands of deaths this winter."

Despite a flurry of diplomatic activity in Geneva, prospects for a peace settlement seemed as remote as ever. U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros- Ghali, booed during a visit to Sarajevo, emerged empty-handed from talks ! with the Presidents of Bosnia, Croatia and Yugoslavia. As thousands of Bosnian fighters massed on a mountain southwest of Sarajevo in apparent preparation for an offensive, Boutros-Ghali called for 10,000 U.N. troops to supplement the more than 7,000 who patrol Bosnia. An additional group of 33 U.N. military advisers headed for Macedonia.