Bosnian Serb leaders on Saturday rebuffed a top U.N. official's plea to accept an international peace plan.

Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said after meeting with U.N. envoy Thorvald Stoltenberg that maps calling for Bosnian Serbs to settle for 49 percent of the republic "cannot be accepted."Bosnian Serbs currently hold 70 percent of Bosnia.

Stoltenberg met with Bosnian Serb leaders at their headquarters in Pale on Saturday after holding talks Friday in the capital of Serb-dominated Yugoslavia with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

Officials at U.N. headquarters in New York characterized Stol-ten-berg's trip as an urgent mission to persuade Bosnian Serbs to accept an international peace plan they repeatedly have rejected.

Milosevic, widely regarded as the instigator of the Bosnian war, is trying to force Bosnian Serbs to agree to a peace plan, hoping his efforts will have international sanctions against Yugoslavia lifted.

Bosnia's Croats and the Muslim-led government have accepted the plan, which would give their federation 51 percent of the country.

The Bosnian war began in April 1992 when Serbs rebelled against a vote by Muslims and Croats, who together formed a majority in Bosnia, to secede from Yugoslavia. The Bosnian Serbs were armed by the retreating Yugoslav army.

In other developments:

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- Explosions and machine-gun fire erupted around Sarajevo's Jewish cemetery Friday night, one of the most hotly contested fronts in the city. There was no clear indication what started the fighting, and no word on casualties. The city was quiet Saturday.

The city's airport partially reopened Saturday, after the United Nations received assurances from both sides.

- U.N. spokesman Maj. Rob Annink reported three more abortive efforts by Bosnian Serbs on Friday to remove heavy weapons from U.N. collection points around Sarajevo. One such effort on Aug. 5 led to a NATO air strike.

- Croatian President Franjo Tudjman warned the U.N. Security Council in a letter that his country would not tolerate persistent attacks from rebel Serbs.

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