
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 16, 1993                   TAG: 9305160102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: JANJA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA                                LENGTH: Medium

SERBS VOTE ON PLAN

Tens of thousands of Bosnian Serbs voted Saturday in a referendum on an international peace plan for Bosnia, and interviews with voters indicated strong opposition to the proposed division of the shattered country among its three warring factions.

The two-day referendum is being held in defiance of intense diplomatic efforts by Western leaders - and even the leadership of neighboring Serbia - to press the Bosnian Serbs to accept a U.N.-sponsored peace plan that would require them to give up 30 percent of the land they have seized during 13 months of fighting among Serbs, Croats and Slavic Muslims.

The Bosnian Serbs now hold about 70 percent of Bosnia, which they have organized into a self-styled independent state. But under the terms of the peace plan, which would divide Bosnia along factional lines into 10 largely autonomous regions, the Serbs would be forced to dissolve their "republic."

In addition to being asked to pass judgment on the peace plan, voters will rule on whether the Bosnian Serb republic, if preserved, should seek to join other states - raising the possibility of creation of a "greater Serbia," sought by Serb nationalists in Serbia and in Croatia.

The Bosnian Serb leadership, which controls most local radio stations and other news media, has urged voters to reject the peace plan. Polling stations in northern and eastern Bosnia all displayed maps showing how Serbs would be separated under the plan into five non-contiguous regions. At each site, slogans on the walls called for a no vote.

President Clinton, whose efforts to settle on a U.S. policy toward ending the Balkan conflict have faced deep divisions in Congress and among U.S. allies in Europe, has said he will await the outcome of the referendum before deciding what steps he will take next.

by CNB