Outline of a Bosnia peace

Friday's agreement to create a separate state for Bosnian Serbs on Bosnian territory is an important step toward realizing the longstanding international partition plan for Bosnian peace. There will be more diplomacy and, probably, more fighting before there is agreement on the precise boundaries of the new Serbian state. But thanks to the recent negotiating efforts of Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, an end to the slaughter of helpless civilians in besieged cities may now be in sight.

The partition plan, imperfect as it is, offers the best hope for ending a war that has done grievous damage to Bosnia's people. It would be better if Bosnia were untouched and intact, but three years of vicious fighting have eliminated that possibility, and the Bosnians themselves are resigned to accepting a good deal less.

In Geneva on Friday, the foreign ministers of Bosnia, Croatia and Serb-dominated Yugoslavia accepted, as a starting point, the allocation of 51 percent of Bosnian territory to the Muslim- Croatian federation and 49 percent to the Serbs. They also officially recognized Bosnia's present international borders, although the creation of a separate Serbian state and the likelihood that the Bosnian Serbs will affiliate in some way with Serbia makes this a formality.

Still conspicuously missing is agreement on the actual partition lines. Friday's accord specifies that all details, including the 51-49 ratio, can be modified by agreement between the Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs. The Serbs have not given up on incorporating Muslim-held Gorazde and part of Sarajevo in their territory. The Muslim-led government vigorously resists on both scores. While the temptation will be strong to use military force to gain advantage in the settlement of these issues, negotiation is the right way.

The Muslim leadership made two significant concessions in Geneva. It accepted the principle of a separate Bosnian Serb state and it recognized that the Bosnian Serbs might work out some as yet unspecified political relationship with Serbia. The first was already implicit in the international peace plan; the second was a reluctant compromise in the hope of ending a war in which Muslims have suffered the worst losses.

In a region where murderous nationalism has too often overwhelmed human decency and national self-interest, these concessions set a standard of pragmatic and even courageous statesmanship that the Bosnian Serbs have yet to match.

Diplomacy is working for now because Washington capitalized on Serbian military setbacks on the war's western front in Croatia and a consolidation of Serbian territorial holdings in eastern Bosnia. NATO bombing to protect civilians in Sarajevo also helped.

The American diplomatic efforts must continue to be vigorously pursued or the momentum from Friday's agreement could be lost. But it is important to remember that the NATO bombing campaign was launched to protect the civilians of Sarajevo from further shelling and encourage the Serbs to enter talks on the international peace plan, not to shape the territorial details of the emerging partition map. Partition lines imposed by outside military force would require a continuing outside military presence to maintain.

So far the bombing campaign, after disabling Bosnian Serb air defenses, has targeted sites related to Serbian gun emplacements around Sarajevo, many of which remain unscathed. If Serbian forces do not pull back their remaining guns to an acceptable distance from the cities, those weapons should be targeted as well. But that is as far as this bombing campaign should go.

The Balkan conflict will not yield easily to peace, and future setbacks are extremely likely. But with American help, the combatants have made a start. They must not let it wither.

-- The New York Times