Under threat of NATO air strikes, Bosnian Serbs allowed a convoy into Sarajevo along a newly opened route Friday and agreed to quit strategic Mount Igman on Saturday.
"They want to get the government back to the negotiating table," Cmdr. Barry Frewer, spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers, said of the Serbs.Bosnia's Muslim president, Alija Izetbegovic, began boycotting peace talks in Geneva nearly two weeks ago to protest the Serb offensive that took Igman and nearby Mount Bjelasnica from government troops. He has refused to return until withdrawal is complete.
Gen. Francis Briquemont of Belgium, commander of U.N. forces in Bosnia, said commanders of Bosnian Serb and government forces have agreed on lines of withdrawal from Mount Igman overlooking Sarajevo. The Bosnian Serbs already have left Mount Bjelasnica.
All Serb forces on Igman must withdraw beyond the agreed lines by 4 p.m. (8 a.m. MDT) Saturday, Briquemont said.
He and U.N. chief of staff Brig. Vere Hayes said the new lines removed the last stumbling block to resuming peace talks in Geneva.
Hayes, who was on the mountains Friday afternoon, said he could confirm that the Serbs already have withdrawn nearly all their troops beyond the agreed withdrawal lines.