BOSNIA-ARMS EMBARGO: Policy Gap Opens Between Europe and the U.S. /CORRECTED REPEAT/

BRUSSELS, Nov 11 (IPS) - Europe Friday frowned on U.S. plans to end its enforcement of the arms against Bosnian Muslims, with senior European Union (EU) officials here saying it was a premature move and Russian lawmakers warning that it would lead to chaos.

Confirming U.S. newspaper reports, Washington Friday said a formal announcement of the decision was imminent. Congress voted two months ago to cut off all U.S. funding for embargo enforcement as of Nov. 15 unless the Bosnian Serbs agreed to a peace accord.

In a brief statement Friday, the EU's foreign policy Commissioner, Hans van den Broek, would only say he "regretted" Washington's decision.

Senior European civil servants stressed that non-enforcement of the arms embargo would be "inappropriate and premature" and would undermine peace efforts being undertaken by the international community to end the civil war in the former Yugoslav republic.

"Politically, it is better to concentrate on getting parties to agree on the peace plan," one EU civil servant.

Foreign ministers of the Western European Union (WEU) -- projected as the defensive arm of the EU -- are also expected to express their reservations to the U.S. move when they meet in the Netherlands over the weekend. Outgoing WEU Secretary-General Wim van Eekelen has already termed the plan "divisive".

British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd has also described the U.S. decision as a "worry", reportedly telling reporters in London: "It is to be hoped that differences between the United States and its allies can be worked out."

In Moscow, Russia's legislative body, the State Duma warned that such a move would only lead to "chaos and...to a deterioration to the crisis".

The Russians, with religious and historical ties with the Serbians, have been playing a key mediatory role in the conflict, and have in the past succeeded in getting the Serbs to negotiate when others have failed.

However, in recent weeks, the situation in Bosnia-Hercegovina has deteriorated following military gains by the Bosnian Muslim in renewed fighting in north-western and southern Bosnia. The Serbs have vowed to retaliate.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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