U.N. Attempting to Evacuate Foreigners From Bosnia Capital

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina —  The United Nations is working behind the scenes to evacuate about 220 foreign nationals trapped for four months in the besieged Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, U.N. officials said Thursday.

The foreigners include 20 Westerners, one of them an American mathematics professor, and a large contingent of medical students from Middle Eastern countries.

“Strictly speaking, the evacuation might be outside our mandate,” said a U.N. official who asked not to be named. “But we have told the (Bosnian) presidency and foreign embassies we would find it difficult to turn down a coordinated request.”

The Bosnian government has used Sarajevo radio, television and local newspapers to advise foreign nationals in Sarajevo to register for evacuation. About 220 have responded, and the first foreigners could be evacuated as early as next week.

Harry Miller, an American mathematician from Hyde Park, Ill., and his Bosnian wife are among those who have applied to be evacuated.

“We talked to the American Consulate in Belgrade and they told us we were first on the list as far as they are concerned,” said Miller, a professor at Sarajevo University.