US push to extend Sarajevo breakthrough across Bosnia: Balkans conference will try to extend Sarajevo deal to other besieged cities

THE UNITED STATES, the European Union and Russia have begun moves to capitalise on the breakthrough in Sarajevo and use it to create a broader settlement.

At the United Nations in New York last night, Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General in charge of peace-keeping, said the UN wants to open the airport at Tuzla, another besieged Muslim enclave in Bosnia, on 7 March - an operation that could involve Nato air power.

In Sarajevo, Bosnian leaders showed unusual optimism. 'Some kind of spring is coming,' Bosnia's Muslim President, Alija Izetbegovic, said. 'Celebrate this victory and don't be afraid any more.'

The US has invited the Russian Foreign Minister, Andrei Kozyrev, to Washington this week. 'What we have now is a process that has energy behind it and we must all push it forward,' Charles Redman, the US special envoy, said in Zagreb yesterday.

France will ask the UN Security Council this week to put the Bosnian capital under UN administration, President Francois Mitterrand said. It was essential to build rapidly on the success of Nato's ultimatum to relieve other Bosnian towns, he added.

A meeting in Bonn today of foreign ministry officials from the 12 European Union countries, the US and Russia will start to prepare for an international conference on the Balkans. The next step is likely to be an extension of the approach used in Sarajevo to other besieged cities.

Both sides in Sarajevo have been quite open about their intention to remove weapons and troops from the 20km (12 mile) exclusion zone around the city rather than hand them over to the UN, prompting fears that the demilitarisation might increase the firepower trained on other Bosnian cities.

Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader, yesterday promised his men would not turn artillery on new targets, but was met with scepticism.

The UN commander in Bosnia, Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Rose, said he has 'absolutely no idea' how many guns were in place before the Nato deadline, but the general trend has been towards withdrawal. A UN spokesman close to General Rose acknowledged concern about weapons elsewhere, but he sensed a waning resolve to continue fighting.

Muslim anger, page 9