Tensions High, But Serbs, Croats Agree To Talk Nato Expands Threat Of Air Strikes To Cover All U.N. ‘Safe Areas’

Serb and Croatian forces warily agreed Tuesday to return to negotiations, while NATO expanded its threat of airstrikes against Serb rebels to protect all remaining U.N. “safe areas.”

Tensions exploded last week when Croatia sent thousands of troops flooding into western Bosnia, where they made stunning advances against rebel Serbs.

Croatia, which said it was responding to a plea from Bosnia’s Muslim-led government to help defend the northwestern Muslim enclave of Bihac, has used the advance to move its forces through Bosnia to threaten the self-proclaimed rebel Serb capital of Knin in Croatia.

Despite continued fighting, Croatian and Serb representatives agreed to hold talks Thursday in Geneva, the United Nations announced.

Serbia’s President Slobodan Milosevic, widely blamed for instigating the wars in neighboring Bosnia and Croatia, wrote to Bosnia’s Muslim president, Alija Izetbegovic, and Bosnian Serb commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, urging peace.

Milosevic, who is now playing peacemaker to try and end 3-year-old international sanctions on his country, warned Mladic that there was a danger of a “hitherto-unseen escalation of the conflict.”

Serb jets reportedly rocketed Croat positions near the Bosnian-Croatian border Tuesday, while the outskirts of the southern Croatian town of Gospic, near Serb-held territory, were shelled twice. The nearby town of Otocac, where Croatian troop movements were reported, was said to be under general alert.

Croatian forces close to Serb-held territory further north, where a truce was still in effect, had donned combat gear and helmets, and rival Serbs were changing positions to keep watch on them, said U.N. spokesman Chris Gunness.