This Week: U.S. aid to Bosnia; Battle near Doboj; "democracy" in Croatia; war criminals arrested

Other Serbs across the country found similar unwanted guests on the way, as multitudes of Muslims tried to visit their former homes and the graves of their relatives on Bijram, one of Islam's main religious holidays: Outside Trnovo, 20 miles south of Muslim-held Sarajevo, Serbs ignored the NATO tanks escorting a Muslim convoy, attacking the buses and their occupants with clubs and bricks.

"I was finally going to be through with their war, their oppression and their crafty lies," one Serb grimaced. "We had our republic and they had their side, and things were finally going to be peaceful ... We're not going over to their side, so they shouldn't come over here. I don't care what the Dayton agreement says. It's just a piece of paper. The border is real."

IFOR commanders are baffled about how to respond to resistance from Serb civilians. When IFOR has attempted to escort convoys into Serb areas, its soldiers have been stoned or blocked. Despite being tasked with implementation of the Dayton Accord, IFOR has thus taken to using its muscle to prevent returns. As today's incident proves, blocking the pilgrimages is equally fruitless, as returnees now routinely evade checkpoints. And depending on the Serb police to protect the Muslims is equally ill-advised.

"If we could have lived together, we would have," said one man. "We couldn't, and that's why we had a war."

And the latest decision by the electorate in Zagreb is clearly not to President Franjo Tudjman's liking. The election results are currently being adjusted by the president, who is a former Communist general.

Zagreb's city council, which appoints the mayor and is dominated by the opposition, a group of seven parties, was tossed out the door on Tuesday. The move to dissolve the city council, which took office last October, will ultimately force new elections. And it has triggered an acrimonious power struggle that illustrates Tudjman's growing intolerance and refusal to sanction democratic change.

Tudjman cited "national security" in exercising his constitutional veto to keep out all four candidates the opposition suggested in the last six months.

In March, Tudjman appointed Marina Matulovic-Dropulic, a former minister of construction, as mayor. She promptly received a vote of no-confidence from the council, a center-left coalition which controls 30 of the 50 seats. Tudjman, in a move that does not appear to have any legal basis, promptly appointed her again.

The city council said this week it would name a "commissioner" to run Zagreb until new citywide elections are held. Meanwhile, Matulovic-Dropulic continues to act as mayor.

Tudjman contends that if the opposition controls the city, Croatia's economic recovery will be disrupted.

The government said it was forced to dissolve the city council after the Constitutional Court ruled that the city budget was illegal. The Court is dominated by judges appointed by the Tudjman's governing party, the Croatian Democratic Union.

"The city assembly," said Dr. Ivic Pasalic, a senior presidential adviser, "has been engaged in unlawful acts. It tried to raise public salaries without proper approval from the budget, a move designed only to win support. And it tried to replace the directors of public utilities."

But the struggle, centers around the sale of state-owned businesses, many of which have ended up in the hands of close associates of the president.

Tudjman's party says it will institute new balloting procedures before the next elections, allowing the party with the majority to control the city council. This would bar coalitions, such as the one that won in Zagreb, from taking control of the council.

The government also said it would call for a referendum to see if people wanted another vote, a move that would permit the government to stretch the constitutional deadline that requires that new municipal elections be called 60 days after any council is disbanded.