Give Bosnia Talks Another Chance, U.N. Chief Says

GENEVA â€”  Promising to spend the last day of the year with his peacekeeping troops in Sarajevo, U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali urged impatient governments to give negotiations another chance before trying to castigate Serbia with new punishments, such as the shooting down of planes that violate the United Nations’ “no-fly zoneâ€� over Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Describing himself as an optimist “by definition,� he said he is encouraged by the convening of a summit of Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian leaders beginning Saturday in Geneva. But he made it clear that he sees these sessions as a last chance.

“If the talks fail,� he told a news conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in the old palace of the League of Nations, “the decision (about what to do next) will have to be taken by the Security Council.�

Asked about reports that the besieged Bosnian Muslims are massing in Sarajevo for a counterattack against the Serbs, Boutros-Ghali said he has been assured that there will be no offensive until the summit talks are completed.

He made his remarks as pressure from indignant outsiders mounted once more for sterner measures against Serbs who have shocked the world with their murderous policy of “ethnic cleansing� in Bosnia.

Even British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, who has long opposed military intervention in Bosnia, said “the bloody-minded cruelty of the Serbs in Bosnia and the growing risk of a wider conflict� have changed some of his thinking.

“I have always distrusted the idea of military intervention by the West to force a settlement in Yugoslavia,� he wrote in the London Daily Telegraph.

“I still do. But the Serbs should note a change,� he said. “They have brought even those of us who hold that view to the point where we can imagine armed action against them to prevent a general Balkan war.�

It was unclear whether Boutros-Ghali’s plea for time would restrain the Bush Administration, which has sought to persuade the Security Council in recent weeks to enforce the no-fly zone.

Although the Serbs have violated the flight ban over Bosnia with impunity, some diplomats say these trips were not significant militarily.

Asked if enforcement of the zone would provoke the Serbs into turning upon the more than 20,000 U.N. peacekeepers in the Yugoslav area, Boutros-Ghali said that strict enforcement--such as shooting down planes--would endanger his troops and humanitarian workers.

But he said that he would not have to remove them if the ban were enforced “in a more flexible way.�

He did not detail what he had in mind.

But other sources said the Serbs have proposed that a U.N. observer go aboard each flight to ensure it was not for military purposes.

Boutros-Ghali said he will end his first year as secretary general with a flight today to Sarajevo.

“I have a responsibility for the troops on the ground,� he said. “I just want to express my solidarity with them by passing the 31st of December with them.�

Former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, Boutros-Ghali’s special representative to the region, will accompany him to Sarajevo.

Upon his return, Vance will join Lord Owen, the former British foreign secretary who is representing the European Community, as co-chairmen of the peace conference in Geneva.

U.N. officials said that Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, Bosnian Croat leader Stjepan Kljujic, Yugoslav President Dobrica Cosic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman have been invited to the conference.

Asked about the absence of outgoing Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panic, who failed to unseat Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic a week ago, Boutros-Ghali replied: “We were hoping he would play a role of moderator, and he played an important role (at the last peace conference) in London. But let us be realistic. We have to talk with those in power.�

The first session is scheduled to go on through Monday or Tuesday--breaking for the Orthodox Christian Christmas holidays--but could be reconvened later if Vance and Owen feel there has been enough progress.

Even while asking for more time for negotiations, Boutros-Ghali reported that work was progressing on the creation of an official U.N. tribunal with the power to judge war crimes in the area of former Yugoslav republics.

He said that he will not remain in Geneva for the Yugoslav summit but will fly to Africa, where he plans to visit Somalia and preside over a meeting of all the Somali warlords in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Jan. 4.