YUGOSLAVIA: Milosevic Gives Support to Carter's Peace Bid in Bosnia

• by Vesna Peric Zimonjic (belgrade)
• Wednesday, December 21, 1994
• Inter Press Service

BELGRADE, Dic 21 (IPS) - Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has given his support to the peace efforts in Bosnia-Hercegovina of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who managed to secure a four- month ceasefire in the war-torn state, starting on Friday.

"During the last couple of days, all over the world, former president (Jimmy) Carter's visit to this area was judged differently," said Milosevic after a late night meeting with the former U.S. president in Belgrade Tuesday.

"Some reactions were very negative, some were restrained, but positive. My strong impression is that he came here with one aim only -- to sincerely bring peace...and this deserves our full support," Milosevic told reporters.

Carter, who had been asked by the Bosnian Serbs to try to negotiate a peaceful end to the war, had stopped over in Belgrade after trips to Sarajevo and Pale at the end of which he announced the agreed ceasefire.

"President Carter's presence should not be judged only as a private visit," Milosevic went on, in what seemed a reference to Carter's announcement before the trip that he was acting in his personal capacity and not representing the United States.

"His presence shows that the U.S. and President (Bill) Clinton want peace. Their search for peace deserves our full support... Serbia too will continue its efforts towards the same goal, like it did before."

Such statements were of course aimed at getting political mileage out of Carter's trip to the region, as Milosevic continues to woo the international community into lifting all sanctions against the Serbian state -- imposed because Belgrade had initially lent military and political support to the Bosnian Serbs.

The oil and trade embargoes have crippled the Serbian economy and has undermined Milosevic's popularity in Belgrade.

For Carter's part, he said the ceasefire opened the way for future peace talks, using the 'Contact Group' peace plan as a starting point for negotiations which he hoped could be completed by Jan. 1.

The Bosnian Serbs have up to now rejected the plan of the five- member Contact Group comprising Russia, Britain, France, Germany and the United States which would divide give the Muslims and Croats 51 per cent of the territory. The Bosnian Serbs now control 70 per cent of the land.

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