The Verge of Collapse

Serbs signal the depth of their hatred by sabotaging a Croatian dam

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,...

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