The Guns Talk Too

The peace map that mediators Cyrus Vance and Lord Owen have drawn labels the northwest corner of Bosnia and Herzegovina "Province No. 1." The cold, hungry people who live there call it the Bihac Pocket. Surrounded by Serb- ( controlled territory, the 300,000 inhabitants -- mostly Muslims -- have survived seven months of isolation and almost nightly bombardment from Serb guns. Homes have no electricity, schools are closed, and jobless workers peddle smuggled cigarettes. Thousands in the region would have starved by now except for the sporadic arrival of humanitarian-aid shipments.

Though people are under daily threat of death from shelling,...