New Bosnia ceasefire brings little hope

As another truce is agreed by the warring factions in the

former Yugoslavia reports of fighting continue unabated

A NEW ceasefire agreement was reached between the three commanders of Bosnia's warring armies at a rare meeting in Sarajevo airport yesterday, under the auspices of the United Nations; but there were only faint hopes of reducing the level of bloodshed of the past 15 months.

The meeting of the leaders of the Serb, Croat and Muslim-led Bosnian forces with General Lars-Eric Wahlgren, the commander of the UN force in the former Yugoslavia, was the first in months.

Sources said the parties also discussed placing UN peace-keepers around six UN-proclaimed 'safe areas' for Bosnian Muslims: several of the areas are under attack from Serb forces. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the UN Secretary-General, said on Monday that 7,500 troops would be sent to safeguard the six areas' perimeters.

Earlier truces have not resulted in a substantial let-up in fighting in Bosnia. True to form, Sarajevo Radio yesterday claimed that Serb forces continued to bombard the 'safe areas' of Gorazde in eastern Bosnia. Muhammed Sacirbey, Bosnia's ambassador to the UN, said the onslaught had turned every house in Gorazde into 'a morgue or a hospital'. The UN cannot confirm the claims: Serb fighters have not allowed observers into the region.

Croatian Radio, meanwhile, accused Muslims of pressing on with an offensive in central Bosnia. It said Muslims attacked Novi Travnik, a Croat stronghold, where thousands of Croats fled following Muslim assaults on nearby Travnik. The town fell to Muslim forces last week, sparking a mass exodus of Croats.

Croatian Radio yesterday accused Muslims of killing four Serb civilians as they swam across the River Neretva to Croat-held territory. The Serbian media reported 'a reign of terror' in Muslim-held Konjic, in south-west Bosnia, against Croats and Serbs. Whether or not the claims are true, the anti-Muslim tone of the official media in Belgrade and Zagreb points to an emerging coalition.

At local level, Bosnian Croats and Serbs are setting up commissions to manage property swaps and what they call 'a peaceful transfer of civilians'.

The durability of the latest Sarajevo ceasefire will effect a crucial meeting due to start today in Geneva between the presidents of Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia, and the international peace mediators Lord Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg.

Western diplomats in Belgrade say the Geneva meeting may be the last chance to halt the bloodshed in Bosnia and prevent fighting from spreading, especially to the Albanian-dominated province of Kosovo, in Serbia, and to Macedonia.

In the Serb-held Krajina region in Croatia, local Serbs are expected to vote this weekend to unify their region with Serb-held land in Bosnia. This could trigger an attack by the Croatian army and a second all-out Serbo-Croatian war.

Bosnia's Muslim President dismissed the Geneva talks as irrelevant. Alija Izetbegovic called for the West to allow arms sales to Bosnian Muslims, saying: 'Without a real balance of forces there can be no fruitful talks, only capitulation.'

VIENNA - The UN World Conference on Human Rights unanimously adopted a resolution from Bosnia to appeal to the UN Security Council to stop the genocide in Bosnia, Reuter reports.

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