'A lot of bluff in the UN'

LORD OWEN, the EC mediator in the Balkans, has angrily denied charges of appeasing the Bosnian Serbs, writes Michael Sheridan.

In an interview with the Independent on Sunday, he dismisses as absurd any analogy with Chamberlain and Munich, saying: 'I was called in after the war had already resulted in some of the worst ethnic cleansing, most of the territorial gains and a terrible mess.'

He admits that the threat of air strikes against the Serbs contains an element of bluff. 'There's a lot of bluff in the UN - what is the UN in many ways other than bluff?'

On his personal position, he says: 'I haven't got a political career, I'm out of politics. There's no ambition left in me. I'm trying to do a job.'

(Photograph omitted)