THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, December 3, 1994             TAG: 9412030254
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA       LENGTH: Short :   48 lines

SERBS AGREE TO FREE U.N. PEACEKEEPERS THEY'RE ALSO ACCUSED OF SHELLING THE SITE OF A U.N. ENVOY'S MEETING.

Bosnian Serbs promised Friday to release hundreds of peacekeepers and allow aid deliveries as the chief U.N. envoy tried to salvage what was left of the ailing U.N. mission in Bosnia.

Earlier, two anti-tank missiles slammed into the presidency building minutes before U.N. envoy Yasushi Akashi arrived for talks with the Muslim-led Bosnian government. U.N. officials said the missiles appeared to come from Serb positions, but the Serbs said the government attacked itself.

It was yet another sign of Serb contempt for the peacekeeping effort, which has virtually ground to a halt. The Serb rebels have stopped U.N. aid convoys, attacked a U.N.-declared ``safe area,'' and taken peacekeepers hostage.

In Brussels, Belgium, Secretary of State Warren Christopher and European foreign ministers endorsed a U.S. plan for a cease-fire that would lead to peace talks in the 2 1/2-year-old war.

At the United Nations, Russia late Friday vetoed a Security Council resolution aimed at stopping Yugoslav fuel supplies reportedly powering a Serb offensive in northern Bosnia. It was the first council veto in a year and a half and the first on the Bosnian war.

The Serbs on Friday released 70 peacekeepers who had been held a week, but more than 300 peacekeepers remained hostage as insurance against NATO airstrikes.

Akashi, who met with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in Pale, east of Sarajevo, said he was assured that Ukrainian peacekeepers held in northern Bosnia would be released, Dutch and British supply convoys detained since last Saturday would be freed, and Bangladeshi peacekeepers in Bihac would be allowed to get supplies.

Karadzic said the Serbs and the United Nations ``are moving fast to normalization of our relations.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS

U.S. Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit exercise on the

deck of the Norfolk-based Nassau. The ship is in the Adriatic Sea

for a possible deployment of troops to Bosnia.

by CNB