U.N. Issues Demand for End to Bosnia Fighting : Diplomacy: Security Council condemns bloodshed and says foes must stay in New York to negotiate peace.

UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council, “appalled” over Serbian killings of innocent civilians in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina, demanded Wednesday that leaders of the warring parties there remain in New York to negotiate and quickly sign a peace agreement to end the bloodshed.

Called into emergency session by the United States, the council issued a unanimous statement condemning “the continuing unacceptable military attacks in eastern Bosnia and the resulting deterioration in the humanitarian situation in that region.”

The council said it “was particularly concerned about the fall of the town of Cerska and the imminent fall of neighboring villages” to a Serbian offensive launched in the midst of President Clinton’s attempt to drop tons of food and medicine on the embattled area from planes flying at high altitudes.

Despite earlier indications to the contrary, the Administration said Wednesday that the airdrops will continue.

The Security Council session was convened in the wake of warnings from U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata that “a massacre” was taking place in Cerska.

“Survivors of this apparently total onslaught are attempting to flee the region, and we are receiving urgent appeals asking us to negotiate safe passage and evacuations of the civilians,” she said in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

The statement passed by the Security Council was much stronger than one introduced earlier Wednesday by U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright. That draft was so moderate that it did not even condemn the Bosnian Serbs by name. Asked about the change, Albright told reporters, “We felt that the day could not pass without our taking note of Serbian aggression in eastern Bosnia.”

The evenhanded tone of the first measure had infuriated the Muslim-dominated Bosnian government. Muhamed Sacirbey, Bosnian ambassador to the United Nations, derided the original statement for putting Bosnia into a position much like that of “a battered woman accused of complicity in her own rape.”

Faced with that kind of anger and the public outcry over the horrific news from eastern Bosnia, the council, after consulting for more than four hours, agreed on the condemnation of the Serbs.

But the statement also was designed to put pressure on the Muslims to move closer toward signing a peace treaty. Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, who leads the Muslims, had taken one such step earlier in the day when he joined Bosnian Serbs and Croats in approving the cease-fire and military provisions of the peace agreement proposed by former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance and former British Foreign Secretary Lord Owen.

Izetbegovic apparently signed after he was assured that the United Nations intended to mount a powerful military operation--evidently with North Atlantic Treaty Organization help--to implement the peace agreement and ensure, by force if necessary, that all sides abide by the cease-fire and provisions on disarmament.

But the most nettlesome aspect of the Vance-Owen peace package--an ethnic map dividing Bosnia into 10 provinces--still galled Izetbegovic because it seemed to accept most of the fruits of Serbian aggression and to ratify much of the “ethnic cleansing” in which Serbs have turned Muslim areas into Serbian areas by executing and expelling Muslims.

Vance, Owen and the Security Council obviously sought to ensure that tales of terror from eastern Bosnia would galvanize a peace agreement rather than scuttle it. Speaking to reporters after briefing the council, Vance described the situation in eastern Bosnia as “horrible,” replete with “the most awful kinds of massacres.”

“What I am concerned about,” he said, “is that the fighting is going on, and we are not making the kind of progress that we should be making here to save the people who are dying.”

Albright called for the emergency council meeting after reports of the massacres thundered into U.N. headquarters in New York and upset diplomats and bureaucrats.

U.N. officials have been unable to penetrate the Cerska enclave, and most details about the bloodshed there came from amateur radio reports. These reports said Muslim refugees were fleeing to Konjevic Polje, a town seven miles south of Cerska.

“We have reports,” said Lyndall Sachs, a U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman in Belgrade, “that Konjevic Polje is under heavy bombardment by Serbs . . . and on amateur radio we hear they are coming under tear gas, shells and small arms fire.”

For the second straight day, U.N. officials failed to persuade Bosnian Serb officers to allow 11 refugee agency trucks to enter the enclave. The trucks, laden with blankets, mattresses and medical supplies, waited on the Serbian side of the Drina River, prepared to evacuate 1,500 wounded from Konjevic Polje. Gen. Ratko Mladic, commander of the Bosnian Serb army, said the trucks could enter Cerska only if Bosnian government forces in the area laid down their arms.

But on Wednesday, for the first time, amateur radio reported that the besieged Muslims had found some pallets that American planes had dropped on enclaves in the last three nights.

A ham radio operator in Konjevic Polje said villagers had found 18 pallets packed with food and medicine standing in 20 inches of snow. An operator from Zepa, another besieged enclave, said 11 pallets had been found in the rugged terrain there. “Thank you, America,” said the operator. “The people are delighted by your help.”

In Washington, Clinton called the first National Security Council meeting of his Administration with the growing crisis in Bosnia high on the agenda.

Earlier, in a stinging rebuke to Defense Secretary Les Aspin, the President and Secretary of State Warren Christopher pointedly told reporters that the airlift would continue despite Aspin’s announcement Tuesday that the flights would be suspended.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon issued a written statement attributed to Aspin intended to clarify the situation. “We will continue this policy while we press all the parties to live up to their commitments made in the London conference to let ground convoys of food and medicine pass freely,” Aspin said.

Early today, Air Force planes completed the fourth airdrop mission in as many days. The mission went smoothly, and no groundfire was detected, officials said.

Christopher rejected suggestions that the latest outbreak of fighting might have been triggered by the airlift. “Heavy fighting has been in the area for some time, and there’s no indication at all that it’s been spurred on by the airdrops,” he said. “Indeed, the airdrops continue to serve a humanitarian function, and they should be ongoing for just that reason.”

Meanwhile, White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos announced that a U.S. military mission will visit Moscow soon to arrange for Russian aircraft to join the airlift. Although Russia is itself facing shortages of food and medicine, it has ample military equipment and personnel to help deliver supplies.

Also Wednesday, in the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade, a hand grenade thrown from a car exploded outside the U.S. Embassy, shattering windows but causing no injuries, a police officer said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Times staff writer Meisler reported from the United Nations, and Times special correspondent Silber reported from Belgrade. Times staff writers Norman Kempster and Melissa Healy in Washington contributed to this report.

The U.S. Airdrop

Amateur radio reported that Bosnia-Herzegovina’s besieged Muslims had found some of the pallets dropped by American planes.

The Care Packages

* What’s in bundles: 1,550-pound containers hold 768 Army meals-ready-to-eat, or MRE’s, with food such as chicken and rice. Smaller bundles about half that size contain a mixture of MRE’s, medicine and medical equipment.

* Protecting containers: MREs are packed in five layers of two-inch-thick honeycombed cardboard, the containers tethered to 26-foot parachutes so they can withstand “high velocity airdrops” from about 15,000 feet.