The Verge of Collapse

THE PERUCA HYDROELECTRIC DAM, NORTH OF THE Croatian city of Split, may not yet be doomed. But it is in serious trouble. Though the dam is located outside the areas designated for Croatia's rebellious Serbs by last year's peace plan, the Serbs had threatened to blow it up rather than hand it over to their Croatian rivals.

They weren't kidding. When Croat forces took the dam on Thursday, after a week-long struggle to regain territories that U.N. troops had failed to clear of Serb forces, the mines had already been detonated. Gushing water threatened to burst the 210-ft.-high (65-m) structure altogether, washing away the homes of 20,000 people downstream. At week's end Croatian officials were working feverishly to shore it up and drain the reservoir behind it.

A tottering dam wasn't the only prize. The Croats also got a destroyed bridge, an unusable airport, and a stinging condemnation from the U.N. Nevertheless, the action has given Croats new confidence that they can give the Serbs who pummeled them in 1991 a taste of their own medicine. Though another emergency cease-fire was declared Friday, such sentiments betray the more likely future for Croatia. (See related story on page 86.)