Officials fear Milosevic may back out on talks

September 6, 1995

From State Department Correspondent Steve Hurst

[Holbrooke] WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senior administration and military officials fear Serb President Slobodan Milosevic's agreement to speak for the Bosnian Serbs at peace talks Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, may be unraveling.

The officials said the fear stems from the continuing Bosnian Serb refusal to pull heavy weapons back from the Sarajevo exclusion zone. Thus, as Asst. Sec. Richard Holbrooke scrambles to preserve diplomacy, NATO is intensifying the air campaign.

"We have a very narrow window," a key military adviser to Secretary of State Warren Christopher told CNN Wednesday as he emerged from a briefing with the secretary.

Holbrooke has been moving so fast that even the CIA, with its enormous resources, could not find out what had happened at a meeting between him and Milosevic Tuesday night.

"The CIA said Milosevic hasn't made any telephone calls we could hear and Holbrooke hasn't called in," one senior official said.

The Geneva meeting was arranged to set the framework for future negotiations on peace in the Balkans. Bosnia, Croatia and Yugoslavia plan to send envoys to the meeting. The meeting will also be attended by members of the Contact Group nations, including the United States, Russia, Germany, France and Britain. The conference will be at the U.S. Mission in Geneva, Switzerland. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke is likely to preside.

Officials fear Milosevic may back out on talks

Related Stories

| CONTENTS | SEARCH | MAIN WORLD NEWS PAGE | MAIN BOSNIA PAGE |