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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 23, 1994                   TAG: 9402230025
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BONN, GERMANY                                LENGTH: Medium

WESTERN ALLIES TO PUSH FOR CEASE-FIRES ACROSS BOSNIA

Diplomats agreed Tuesday to extend the Sarajevo cease-fire model to other besieged Bosnian towns, with a crucial difference insisted on by Russia: no new NATO threats of air strikes, at least for now.

Russia opposed extending the NATO ultimatum against Serb gunners around Sarajevo to other parts of Bosnia, two European officials said after a meeting among Russian, U.S. and European diplomats.

Still, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said further ultimatums may be needed. And a U.S. official said Washington hadn't ruled out force.

Diplomats agreed to push the three warring factions toward an overall agreement on dividing Bosnia into three ethnic parts, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"For now, I would say, we give peace a chance," said Juergen Chrobog, a deputy German foreign minister and host of the meeting.

In a statement, the diplomats said they would seek to improve health conditions in Serb-besieged Muslim enclaves and pressure Muslims and Croats for a cease-fire in central Bosnia and Mostar.

They insisted that the Serbs not move to other war fronts any of the artillery removed from around Sarajevo in compliance with the NATO ultimatum.

Vitaly Churkin, Russia's special envoy for former Yugoslavia, said he would urge the Serbs to let Tuzla's airport open.

Tuzla is the base for aid agencies trying to feed hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Bosnia. Its airport lies in range of Serb artillery; five U.N. peacekeepers were wounded in the area Tuesday.

Stephen Oxman, a State Department assistant secretary at the Bonn meeting, said the United States didn't rule out using military attacks to enforce cease-fires elsewhere in Bosnia, but would proceed on a "case-by-case" basis while trying to bring peace to new areas.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mike McCurry seemed unimpressed when asked about Russian opposition to additional NATO ultimatums. "The last time I checked, they were not a member of NATO," he said.

Kinkel, the German foreign minister said, "We hope that further ultimatums are not necessary. . . . But we cannot rule them out."

The Russian envoy said the measures discussed Tuesday in Bonn all can be achieved without the use of force.

Churkin said Russia's message to Europe and the United States was, "When you get in trouble with the Serbs, before raising hell please turn to us. Maybe we can resolve it without any difficulties."

by CNB