Thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica were allegedly

incapacitated by BZ before their deaths

Evidence suggesting that the Bosnian Serbs used

chemical weapons against Muslim civilians has

been presented to the war crimes tribunal in The

Hague.

Thousands of Muslim men and

boys were massacred as they

fled from the United Nations safe

area of Srebrenica in 1995.

It is alleged that a gas

called BZ was used by the

former Yugoslav army to

incapacitate the Bosnian

Muslims before they were

killed.

The gas is a non-lethal

chemical agent causing a

range of physical and

mental symptoms in its

victims, including

hallucination and

disorientation as well as

stupor and coma.

With mass graves still being uncovered in the

region, the human rights organisation, Human

Rights Watch, has gathered evidence from the

few survivors.

Their accounts of what happened to them as they

escaped through the countryside point to the use

of BZ.

Several eyewitnesses

said they saw clouds of

yellowish smoke hanging

in the air.

One man told how his

brother began tearing at

his hair and clothing

begging for water. He died

hours later.

Others told of friends and

colleagues acting wildly

out of character and

hallucinating.

Another recounted how one group stood together

and embraced before exploding a grenade that

killed them all.

'Could be stress'

So far, the evidence gathered is circumstantial and

some forensic experts put the behaviour down to

the enormous levels of fear and stress the men

were subjected to.

But chemical weapons specialists say if they

could examine exploded shells from the region

they could prove whether or not BZ was used.

Dr Jan Medema said: "If you went down there and

had a group of chemical experts taking samples of

the remains of the shells that were fired then you

could determine from the remains whether there

were any chemicals used in those weapons."

Human Rights Watch says it has gathered several

pieces of clear evidence to show that the former

Yugoslav army used BZ.

One such item is the former Yugoslav army's own

military handbook explaining how best to use BZ.

The evidence is now with prosecutors of the war

crimes tribunal, who will decide whether to

continue the investigation.

BBC 19 NOV 1998 14H56 GMT