SERB policemen in a Sarajevo suburb due to revert to the Muslim Croat federation set fire to their police station yesterday before quitting the district, repudiating calls to stop a wave of arson attacks in the area.
The Nato led peace Implementation Force (Ifor) yesterday put more patrols on the streets of Ilidza and Grbavica, the last two of the five suburbs reverting to mainly Muslim control in a difficult test of the peacekeepers.
But the force has said there were limits to what it could do with stretched resources.
UN police said around two dozen fires were set overnight on Sunday in Ilidza, which some 90 police of Bosnia's Sarajevo based MuslimCroat federation will start to patrol today.
More than 50,000 Serbs have quit Sarajevo in recent weeks ahead of the transfer.
Ilidza and Grbavica, held by the Serbs throughout the 3 1/2 year war, have been hit by arson and looting, descending into virtual lawlessness in recent days after being abandoned by the Serbs ahead of its handover.
UN police are reporting "groups of thugs who are threatening the people who wish to stay in the area", UN spokesman Mr Alexandre Ivanko said.
The situation in Ilidza, and in Grbavica district which reverts to Sarajevo's control on March 19th, "remains tense", Mr Ivanko said.
UN police had sent 180 monitors into the area to try to calm the situation, he said.
Ifor spokesman Major Simon Haselock said the exodus of the last Serbs from the suburbs was continuing.