Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 18, 1993 TAG: 9305180268
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Baltimore Sun, the Los Angeles Times and
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The United States on Monday blocked a move by the U.N. Security Council toward a jury-rigged peace plan for Bosnia-Herzegovina that would involve American troops in protecting Muslim "safe areas."
The move opened up what a Western European diplomat described as a "very messy" rift between the United States and the four other permanent members of the Security Council over what to do in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the wake of the Bosnian Serbs' rejection of a U.N.-mediated peace plan.
The Clinton administration announced that the United States would not attend a scheduled meeting Friday of U.N. Security Council foreign ministers.
The meeting was called by Russia, which holds this month's presidency of the council. Russia canceled the meeting Monday night.
A senior U.S. official said the administration feared that the meeting would impose an artificial deadline for a decision by the United States and its allies on what to do next in Bosnia-Herzegovina before a consensus had been reached.
A series of initiatives over the past few days point to an emerging Security Council plan, primarily the work of France and Russia, for a stop-gap effort that includes:
Monitoring of the Serbian-Bosnian border to prevent Serbian arms and fuel from flowing to the Bosnian Serbs.
Beefed-up U.N. protection of Muslim "safe areas," with potentially tens of thousands of additional U.N. protective troops.
Increased numbers of monitors in Macedonia and the Serbian province of Kosovo to prevent a spreading of the conflict into new areas that could trigger a wider war.
Supposedly called to discuss U.N. peacekeeping operations worldwide, the Friday meeting was expected to serve as the occasion for Security Council endorsement of a step-by-step peace plan, which diplomats have dubbed "progressive enforcement."
The United States does not flatly oppose any elements of the plan being developed in the Security Council, and particularly supports close and effective monitoring of the Serbian border.
However, U.S. officials want to dispel the idea that monitoring the Serbian border and the protection of Muslim "safe areas" amount to an even partial implementation of the peace plan.
Bosnian Serb gunmen have embarked on a fresh spree of burning and destruction in Bosnia.
Smoke billowing from Muslim houses in Nova Kasaba on Monday underscored the message of defiance sent by the weekend referendum that what the Serbs have taken will continue to be theirs.
"As long as there is a single Serb here it will never be Muslim territory," vowed Ilija Zekanovic, a 63-year-old gunman. Serb rebels have conquered and "ethnically cleansed" 70 percent of the Bosnian republic. They would have to withdraw from nearly half of it under the U.N. plan.
by CNB