WORLD IN BRIEF : BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA : U.N. May Refuse to Provide Escorts

The commander of U.N. forces in the former Yugoslav federation may refuse to provide escorts to Bosnian government officials after a dispute over the abduction of two “bodyguards” from a U.N. vehicle. Gen. Jean Cot’s spokesman said the two were not simply bodyguards but high-ranking police officers--and the United Nations had not been told this by the Bosnian government before they were added to the traveling delegation. Serbian soldiers abducted the two men, who had been accompanying Croatian Roman Catholic Archbishop Vinko Pulic. They were freed Thursday. But a U.N. statement said because of their high rank, “their presence could only have been remotely connected to the archbishop’s visit.”