Moslem forces fight each other in Bosnia

Moslem forces fight each other in Bosnia

SARAJEVO (Reuter): Fighting raged between rival Moslem forces in a northwest enclave as diplomats from major powers planned to meet yesterday to draw up a final compromise map aimed at bringing an end to Bosnia's bloody war.

Moslem-led Bosnian army troops and breakaway Moslem forces loyal to local strongman Fikret Abdic hit each other with mortar and artillery fire as fighting continued inside the Bihac enclave, a United Nations military spokesman said yesterday.

Abdic's forces had managed to stop an advance of Bosnian government troops and launched a counter-attack near Liskovac, UN Commander Eric Chaperon told reporters in Sarajevo.

UN observers said some 1,000 shells and mortar bombs fell in the Bihac battle zone on Wednesday, Chaperon said.

The fighting jeopardized a temporary one-month truce that succeeded in slowing down fighting elsewhere in Bosnia between Serbs and mostly Moslem forces.

U.S., Russian and European diplomats meeting in London were scheduled to put the final touches on a peace map that would divide the country between warring Serbs and Bosnian-Croat forces.

UN officials fear the fighting in the Bihac region could draw in Serb intervention on the side of their ally Abdic, bringing to an end the temporary truce agreed last week, which Abdic did not sign.

"We are trying as much as possible to solve the problem there because it could have implications for the rest of Bosnia," Chaperon said.

UN commanders held talks on Wednesday with local military leaders in the Bihac enclave in an attempt to defuse tensions, he said.

Diplomats from the five-nation international "contact group" on Bosnia hoped their peace map would be ready for endorsement by major power ministers within two to three weeks.

Under the group's plan Bosnian Serbs are to pull back from some of the 70 percent of the country they now hold, leaving them with 49 percent.

The map would probably then be presented to the warring sides as a "take it or leave it" offer, diplomats said.

Britain's Foreign Minister Douglas Hurd voiced concern that the Bosnia-wide truce was tenuous and gave a gloomy assessment of the prospects of long-term peace.

"The truce is fragile and threatened," said Hurd, adding that time was running out to avoid yet another escalation of the conflict.

Hurd told diplomats on Wednesday it was not clear whether those on the ground, especially the Serbs, were negotiating seriously, and questioned the willingness of both sides to make concessions to achieve peace.

Serb politicians reiterated on Wednesday that the proposed division of Bosnia would not grant them enough "quality" land and could divide their territory into unconnected areas.

Western and Russian diplomats, anxious to push through a peace settlement, say they are prepared to persuade the warring factions to agree on a solution with a "carrot and stick" approach.

The major powers have hinted they would ease U.N. sanctions on rump Yugoslavia to win Serb agreement and have threatened to lift the UN arms embargo selectively on Bosnians and Croats if Serbs fail to make concessions.