But it did not authorize the soldiers to use the force needed to protect relief shipments from gunmen.

The town's 175,000 people have survived, they say, by relying on relief shipments and on relatives living in nearby villages.

Much of that money was not spent, they said, since the Bosnian Serbs often blocked relief shipments to Sarajevo.

Israel also agreed to let helicopters deliver relief shipments to the deportees who remain, he said.

If fighting disrupts relief shipments, then quell the fighting.

There was a second, tactically advantageous reason for the admission of relief shipments, however.

Germany was closed to relief shipments until December 1945.

The United Nations last week authorized the use of force if necessary to protect relief shipments to civilians in Bosnia.

United Nations soldiers posted here to monitor relief shipments say that more than 500 shells sometimes land in a single day.

"There is no new policy" concerning the distribution of relief shipments, he said.