After two days of intense talks, the U.N. commander in Bosnia failed Friday to get the Bosnian government and their Serb enemies to agree on a plan to extend their one-week truce for another four months.
Lt. Gen. Sir Michael Rose remained hopeful, however, that a deal could be reached before the current cease-fire expires Saturday. "We're getting close to it," he said late Friday.The rebel Serbs said they were satisfied with Rose's proposal for a four-month cease-fire to begin New Year's Day and planned to sign it Saturday, the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA reported.
Rose then brought the plan back to the government in Sarajevo. But Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic said the proposal lacked substance and more negotiations were needed.
"There is no clear agreement on the table, so we are continuing our work," Ganic said.
The truce was part of a larger package, including possible resumption of peace negotiations, worked out last week by former President Jimmy Carter. Battle lines would be frozen and some troops would be withdrawn under the proposal.
The nearly 3-year-old war has left 200,000 people dead or missing. It began when the Serbs rebelled against a decision by Bosnia's Muslims and Croats to secede from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia.
Rose appeared optimistic after meeting Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Serb military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic in their stronghold of Pale.