• by IPS Correspondents (zagreb)
• Wednesday, November 16, 1994
• Inter Press Service

ZAGREB, Nov 16 (IPS) - New moves to entice Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic to further abandon his Serb militias in Bosnia and Croatia in return for a total lifting of international sanctions are being devised by the major power 'Contact Group'.

The fresh approach currently under consideration -- dubbed 'Plan B' -- is designed to sidestep the impasse in Bosnia-Hercegovina and make progress by trying to resolve Croatia's simmering conflict with its rebel Serb minority.

The five-nation Contact Group has only recently turned its attentions to Croatia which has rapidly slid up the international agenda.

Zagreb has achieved a number of diplomatic successes of late while the Contact Group's peace proposals for Bosnia-Hercegovina are effectively pushed to the sidelines by the recent upsurge in fighting there.

"The idea is to give the Croatian question the same priority as the Bosnian problem," a western diplomatic source said. This is reflected in a number of ways.

Co-chairmen of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, Lord David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg, have attended talks between Croats and Serbs from Knin, the 'capital' of their self declared state.

A higher profile is also intended to try and head off signs in Zagreb that Croatia is erring towards the military option to settle the Krajina issue.

Belicose statements from Croatia's minster of defence, hardliner Gojko Susak, and two well publicised military exercises are "worrying signs" admits a western envoy.

The main plank of Plan B is Serbia's recognition of both Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. In return for approving the territorial integrity of his two neighbours Milosevic would be offered a further easing of sanctions.

His decision to impose a blockade on Serbs in Bosnia- Hercegovina last August relaxed international bans on sporting and cultural ties with Serbia and Montenegro -- the two states comprising the rump Yugoslavia.

This arrangement has convinced diplomats that getting sanctions lifted is Milosevic's chief goal and that a similar deal can be made again.

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

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