Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9412050066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM LENGTH: Medium
U.S. diplomat Charles Redman, who has much experience in dealing with both sides, completed initial talks with the Muslims in Sarajevo, shuttled to Pale to confer with Bosnian Serb leaders, then returned to the Bosnian capital.
Administration officials said the Muslims appeared receptive and that, while the Serb position was more guarded, the job of selling the plan - which would begin with a cease-fire in war-ravaged northwestern Bosnia - was off to a good start
Insisting there was no change in the overall goal - getting Serbs, Muslims and Croats to the bargaining table - the official, who demanded anonymity, did not challenge the conclusion that the strategy of trying to lift the arms embargo to help the Muslims and to strike at Serb positions with NATO warplanes appears to be dead.
Foreign ministers Alain Juppe of France and Douglas Hurd of Britain today take up their mission: soliciting the help in Belgrade of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
The ``lift and strike'' strategy grew out of President Clinton's pledge during his run for the White House in 1992 to assist the Muslims. The United States would ask the U.N. Security Council to exempt them from an arms embargo in order to ``level the playing field'' with the well-supplied Serbs.
And NATO warplanes would strike at Serb artillery to ease pressure on Sarajevo and other areas designated as ``safe areas'' by the Security Council to protect terrified civilians.France, Britain and Russia derailed the U.S. policy with the argument that an infusion of more weapons would lead to greater bloodshed and that their peacekeepers could be caught in the cross-fire.
The Serbs underscored the argument by detaining some 500 peacekeepers, and, confident that the European argument would prevail, the Serbs pushed on while NATO engaged only in limited air strikes.
Congress has warned that it may try to order Clinton to lift the arms embargo without U.N. approval, but two-thirds of the Senate and House would have to support the move to overcome a likely Clinton veto.
Christopher defended the decision to go ahead with the peace plan, which was based on a blueprint the Serbs have rejected repeatedly since it was first proposed in July. He said the alternatives were unacceptable.
``What we seek here is peace, not the reign of terror that would come through carpet bombing,'' he said. ``No military expert that I know of in the United States believes that bombing could bring this tragic struggle to a conclusion, especially considering the terrain of the land there.''
As of Saturday, the rebel Serbs had not followed through on a pledge to release hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers.
Fighting raged in western Bosnia, and a government-held town in the northwest was on the verge of falling.
Yasushi Akashi, the U.N.'s top envoy in the region, was unable Friday to advance the peace process or secure the release of 400 U.N. peacekeepers held by the Serbs. Some have been held for more than a week.
A U.N. spokesman, Maj. Herve Gourmelon, said late Saturday that no one had been released. All U.N. convoys remained blocked by Serbs.
Akashi's visit came two days after a failed peace mission by U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was snubbed by the Bosnian Serbs.
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic sent a conciliatory letter to Boutros-Ghali on Saturday, expressing regret that the meeting didn't take place. He said he hoped for a meeting in the ``near future.''
But the rebel Serbs reacted angrily to a NATO flight over Bosnia on Saturday, U.N. sources said. The flyover was considered a ``trial balloon'' after flights were suspended amid veiled Serb threats they would be shot down.
by CNB