News Digest
Relief seekers targeted
as Serbs continue killing
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Hcrzegovina
— Bosnian Serbs massacred civilians
and blocked U.N. efforts to evacuate
1,500 sick and wounded people Tues
day as they overran a Muslim enclave
in eastern Bosnia, according to U.N.
officials.
Serbs were “plundering, killing and
burning,” said Lyndall Sachs, a U.N.
spokeswoman, with tanks rumbling
through the smouldering ruins of vil
lages where American pilots had
dropped thousands of meals the day
before.
The food mostly fell into Serb
hands, according to the Pentagon,
while some 10,000people it was meant
to feed fled into the icy mountains.
Some Muslims trying to collect aid
reportedly were picked off by snipers,
said another U.N. spokesman.
At U.N. peace talks in New York,
Bosnia’s Muslim president called
holding the negotiations “incompat
ible” with the Serb assault, although
he did not pull out of the bogged
down discussions.
Serbs later proposed disputed ar
eas of Bosnia be placed under tempo
rary U.N. protection.
U.N. officials said “a massacre is
taking place,” as Serb fighters in the
Ccrska and neighboring Srebrenica
area were killing women and chil
dren. Bosnian radio reported 500 ci
vilians killed and about 15 villages set
ablaze since the Serbian assault began
Sunday.
U.S. fliers made more drops Tues
day, parachuting 21,312 meals and
half a ton of medical supplies over
Zepa, 18 miles southwest of Cerska.
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Officials investigate van pieces,
terrorists for clues to bombing
$200,000 reward
offered for leads
in bombers’ arrest
NEW YORK — Investigators
combing the World Trade Center
bombipg site said Tuesday they were
focusing on terrorist groups, includ
ing a Palestinian organization that
allegedly threatened to set off a bomb
here a month ago.
“We’re looking at several groups.
I wouldn’t want to name the groups.
i 1
I’d probably leave some out,” said
James Fox, head of the FBI’s New
York office.
Pieces of a van were recovered
from the garage where the bomb went
off Friday, although Fox’s office
wouldn’t comment further on a re
ported link between the vehicle and
the blast that kil led at least f ve people.
The names of two groups came up
in response to questions at the news
conference: the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, an extremist
Palestinian group, and Hamas, a Mus
lim fundamentalist group that has
opposed negotiations with Israel.
FBI spokesman Joe Valiquette said
the investigation wasn’t focused on a
single group.
While investigators searched for
cluesand suspects,authoritiesoffered
a $200,000 reward, the biggest in city
history, for information leading to the
bombers’ arrest and conviction.
Four days after the blast, one man
believed lost in the explosion sud
denly resurfaced. Another person re
mained missing.
Standoff continues;
death count rising
Newspaper reports
at least seven cult
members are dead
WACO, Texas — An armed reli
gious cult’s leader said he would sur
render Tuesday and end a siege that
has killed at least six, but the standoff
dragged on well into its third day and
negotiations continued.
A newspaper reported Tuesday that
the death toll from Sunday night’s
raid at the Branch Davidian com
pound may be at least 11. Authorities
have said four federal agents and at
least two people inside the compound
were killed.
The Houston Chronicle, quoting
unidentified sources, reported that
children released from the compound
said at least seven people inside were
killed in the firefight. The newspaper,
in its afternoon editions, also said
agents believed they had killed as
many as 15 people.
A state source, who spoke on con
dition of anonym ily, said he had heard
that seven cult members had died and
up to 40 people had been wounded.
Officials have said about 75 people
were in the compound, but cull leader
David Koresh has claimed more.
In a 58-minutc taped statement
broadcast Tuesday on Texas radio
stations at the FBI’s request, the cult
leader said: “I, David Koresh, agree
upon the broadcasting of this tape to
come out peacefully with all the
people immediately.”
“Even a man like Christ has to
meet with unbelief,” said Koresh, 33,
who thinks he’s Jesus.
“I’m sure you’re all aware of how
I’m involved in a very serious thing
right now. I am really concerned about
the lives of my brethren here and also
really concerned even greater about
the lives of all those in this world.”
Buses and other military vehicles
moved nearer within minutes of the
broadcast’s start. About two hours
after the broadcast ended, there was
no indication Koresh had surrendered.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms abruptly can
celed a midafternoon news confer
ence with a one-sentence statement
saying the standoff wasn’t over. The
siege began Sunday morning as about
100 ATF agents raided the compound,
seeking to serve firearms violations
warrants on Koresh, and gun battles
erupted. Among those reportedly
killed in the raid was Koresh’s 2-year
old daughter.
Koresh told a radio station he had
been gravely wounded Sunday.
Koresh began letting children out
late Sunday after a station agreed to
broadcast a statement by him. Before
Koresh’s radio statement, eight more
children left the compound Tuesday,
bringing the number of children re
leased to 16. Two women also left, the
first adults to leave the compound
voluntarily.
Sunday’s assault had been planned
for months but failed when the agents
encountered overwhelm ing firepower,
including at least one .50-calibcr
machine gun.
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Interested in an
International
Assignment?
The Mennonite Central Committee, the social concerns
organization for North American Mennonite and Brethren in
Christ churches, seeks committed Christian vounteers.
Needed: health workers, agriculturists, teachers, community
services workers and others.
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Meet with MCC representative Dana Neff at Alternative
Career Day, Thursday March 4,9:30-3:00 in the
Nebraska Union, or hear him speak about MCC at First
Mennonite Church (7300 Holdrege) March 3, 7:00 pm
Yeltsin vows extreme steps in showdown
MOSCOW — President Boris
Yellsin mustered his political allies
Tuesday before a showdown with
Russia’s hard-line Congress, and said
he was willing to take “extreme steps”
to save his reforms.
Yellsin solemnly told a gathering
of about 80 lawmakers and members
of reformist factions in his second
lobbying appearance this week that
“the democrats alone cannot pull out
this heavy cart.”
He urged supporters to forge lies
with other political groups before the
next Congress of People’s Deputies,
the nation’s highest legislative body.
The session probably will open
March 10, he said. The most chill
ing part of Yeltsin’s speech was his
warning thal hard-line forces planned
to assert their power through the Com
munist-dominated Congress to fur
ther weaken his government.
If they succeed, “these forces will
bring about a reversal of the reforms
to which people already have become
accustomed,” Yeltsin said. “If forces
thal can destroy Russia appear, ex
treme steps will have to be taken to
save the country, reforms and democ
racy.”
Former Yeltsin adviser Galina
Starovoitova said later that Yeltsin
was referring to the introduction of
direct presidential rule. If supported
by the military, Yeltsin could bypass
Congress and rule by decree.
But Starovoitova said a move to
NBC News president resigns
after recent fiery controversies
Higged collision
on NBC’s‘Dateline’
led to his leaving
NEW YORK — Michael Gartner
resigned as president of NBC News
on Tuesday, less than a month after
the network apologized for rigging a
fiery truck crash near an Indiana com
field.
“Concern over recent NBC News
broadcasts continues to consume a
great deal of energy and attention
within the NBC News organization,”
Gartner said in a written statement.
“For that reason, and because I
have accomplished much of what I set
out to do when I accepted this posi
tion, I have decided to make this
change,” said Gartner, 54, who be
came NBC News’ president Aug. 1,
1988.
He said he was immediately relin
quishing day-to-day control to execu
tive vice president Don Browne and
would leave on Aug. 1, his fifth anni
versary in the job.
Two sources at NBC, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said the net
work had demanded Gartner’s resig
nation, but he insisted through a
spokeswoman that he was leaving
voluntarily.
Gartner was a successful Iowa
newspaperman, editor of the Des
Moines Register and Tribune, and a
former Page One editor of The Wall
Street Journal when he was tapped to
head NBC News.
His mission was to cut costs, but
after a year in the job, NBC was
reportedly ready to dismiss him. Ac
cording to Ken Aulcua’s study of
network TV, “Three Blind Mice,”
Gartner kept his job only because
NBC’s leading candidate didn’t want
iL
Gartner ’ s critics pointed to his staff
layoffs, the closing of foreign bu
reaus, NBC’s botched initial cover
age of the San Francisco earthquake,
his decision to name the alleged vic
tim in the William Kennedy Smith
rape trial and his greenlighting the
cheesy tabloid-style “I Witness
Video.”
The final blow came on Feb. 9,
when “Dateline NBC,” the network’s
first successful prime time news maga
zine, had to apologize on-air for rig
ging a fiery pickup truck crash for a -
Nov. 17 report on the safety of Gen
eral Motors “sidesaddle” gas tanks.
impose presidential rule could fail
“because the army, KGB and Interior
Ministry are not devoted enough to
the president that he could count on
their support.”
Yeltsin successfully resisted the
August 1991 coup, in part, because
these security organs refused to obey
Kremlin hard-liners who seized power.
Starovoitova also cast doubt on
how strongly the Russian people would
back their president.
“The president's support is not so
great as it was two or three years ago
when he could appeal to the people
and count on victory,” she said.
Asked if he would succeed at tak
ing extreme steps, Yeltsin told report
ers: “I’m a brave man.”
Net>ra&kan
Editor Chris Hoptensperger
472- 1766
Managing Editor Alan Phslps
Assoc. News Editors WandyMott
Assoc News Editors Tom Malnelli
Editorial Page Editor Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Wire Editor Todd Cooper
Copy Desk Editor Kathy Steinauer
Sports Editor John Adkleson
Arts & Entertain- Mark Baldridge
ment Editor
Diversions Editor Kim Spurlock
Photo Chief KNey f Impertey
Night News Editors Stephanie Purdy
MksLlwIt
Steve Smith
Lori Stones
Art Director Scott Maurer
General Manager Dan Shattll
Production Manager Katherine Poilcky
Advertising Manager Jay Cruse
Senior Acct. Exec. Bruce Kroese
Classified Ad Manager Karan Jackson
Publications Board
Chairman Doug Fiedler
436-7862
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473- 7301
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1993 DAILY NEBRASKAN
