LETTER : Just a temporary truce for Bosnia

Sir: According to James Pardew, US special representative for Military Stabilisation in the Balkans, his government will give $100m to help the Muslim-Croat federation in Bosnia build an army able to match the Bosnian Serbs (report, 12 March).

In the next breath, he acknowledges the uneasy relationship between Bosnia's Croats and Muslims - the federation has yet to "merge the rival Croat and Muslim armies". Surely, these nominally federated proteges of Washington will be tempted once again to resolve their differences at the expense of the Bosnian Serbs.

The threat of reimposed economic sanctions would probably stop Belgrade from coming to the rescue of its brothers across the Drina. The spoils from a joint military campaign to expel the Bosnian Serb nation would be mainly allocated to a Muslim entity, which would then accept its lot as a satellite of Greater Croatia.

A precedent was set last summer when Zagreb, with America's approval, invaded the Krajina region and cleansed it of its Serb inhabitants.

The Dayton accord is in essence a temporary ceasefire.

Yugo Kovach

Twickenham, Middlesex