SARAJEVO. Dec 11: Thousand* of Sarajevans Inched their way Saturday through a darkened tunnel, loaded down with food and firewood to survive their third winter of war. report* AP.

The 800-metre-long (half-mfte longl tunnel, which links Sarajevo with a government-held town outside Bosnian Serb siege line*, is among the reasons that the Bosnian capl tai* approximately 300000 resident* are somewhat better prepared for survival this year

The 32 month old war and the inability of the international community to stop It have also taught ordinary Sar ajevan* they must be aelf-rehant

I don t know how we will -survive said Saban Muhare

movie. 38. as he carried his provisions: one bag of sausage, cigarettes chocolate and a kilo (2 pounds) of cheese. 'But I know we must. If we must, we will '

Talk of a possible UN withdrawal and end to humanitarian aid deliveries has added yet another strain to the lives of people who have endured nearly three years of shelling, sniping, death and deprivation

Since the humanitarian air lift to Sarajevo began in June 1992 about 80 per cent of the UN food and supplies that have sustained the city have come by plane Last month, however, the airlift was suspended after Bosnian Serbs deployed sur face to air missiles that could threaten the flight corridor to Sarajevo

The Bosnian Serbs whose troops surround the city, have also refused to allow sufficient land convoys to reach the city Western leaders warn that the entire UN operation may be closed and the 24.000 troops withdrawn if the Serbs con tin tie their hardline tactics.

Even In the best of times. UN aid packages provided each recipient with barely enough for one meagre meal a day until the next handout two week* later

That, and the prospect ol a a war. prompted Sarajevans the government to ere stive approaches to survival While city residents planted vegetable gardens, government workers converted a culvert running underneath the air port runway into a tunnel link

Ing Sarajevo with a government held suburb outside siege lines.

The tunnel has enabled Sarajevans to reach the suburb of Hraanlca. where they can buy lood and firewood unavail able or too expensive in Sarajevo The tunnel has lieen open since late summer 1993. but wa* used initially mostly by the military.

It factored significantly in the resupply of Sarajevans after the March 1994 accord that ended Bosnian Croat-Muslim fighting and opened supply routes from Croatia, and the Adriatic Coast, to Hraanlca

Food can now be brought into Sarajevo after the harvest and stockpiled.

Still needing permission to use the tunnel, thousands of

civilians line up each day for the narrow. muddy channel, so low its travellers must walk hunched over.

In Hraanlca. goods are gen erally three to four times cheaper than In Sarajevo. Items from the rest of Bosnia and neighbouring Croatia arrive via a narrow mountain road, which though covered by Bosnian Serb fire is a lifeline

"Are you coming from Sarajevo?" asked one Hraanlca fruit vendor, who gave her name only aa Edlaa. T can tell, because those who Stand for a long time In front of my window looking at the nice yellow color of the lemon*. I know they come from Sarajevo."

The city Is better prepared for this winter," Kris Janowski, spokesman for the UN High

Commissioner for Refugees, said.

"People planted gardens last summer, and they've become more resourceful."

The Bosnian government army has also begun rationing food to its troops, who keep their families In the city Many soldiers are being Issued 25 kilos (55 pounds! of potatoes, five kilos (11 pounds) of onl ons and three liters (quarts) of cooking oil as reserves to last the winter.

Natural gas and electricity though well below wartime levels, are also more plentiful

In the past, the Bosnian Serbs used to cut off both utilities from time to time. Now the government ha* learned how to *witch off utilities to the Serbs. too