Serbs announced a cease-fire Friday in the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina beginning next week and offered to let U.N. monitors oversee the truce.

In Bosnia, Sarajevo was calm at sunrise after the quietest night in the capital since intense fighting began five days ago between the Serbs and the city's Muslim-led defenders.More than a dozen cease-fires have failed in the breakaway republic, including an earlier one proclaimed unilaterally by the Serbs. The warring sides have blamed each other for those failures.

But Friday's offer by Serb leader Radovan Karadzic represented the first time the republic's Serb fighters offered to let U.N. monitors observe a cease-fire from all Serbian positions, including those that ring Sarajevo.

At a news conference in Belgrade - the Serbian and Yugoslav capital - Karadzic told reporters he sent a telegram to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali outlining his offer and requesting at least 800 monitors.

"We unilaterally announce a cease-fire from Monday," Karadzic said, reading the telegram. He said the truce would start on all fronts at 6 a.m. Monday (10 p.m. MDT Sunday).

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"Our military positions are open to U.N. monitors, and we will warmly welcome their immediate arrival," Karadzic said.

Karadzic is believed to command the loyalties of most Serb fighters battling Muslims and Croats for control of wide areas of Bosnia. Serbs, about one-third of Bosnia-Herzegovina's population, have captured about two-thirds of the republic with the aid of Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia.

There was no immediate reaction from the Bosnian government.

The United Nations currently has a small contingent in Sarajevo that is trying to prepare the airport for relief flights. U.N. officials previously said an 800-strong peacekeeping force was planned to guarantee safety for aid flights.

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