Mediators Propose Dividing Up Bosnia, but Muslim Leader Balks

GENEVA —  In the first-ever face-to-face talks among leaders of the three warring ethnic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina, mediators Saturday proposed splitting the nation into 10 autonomous provinces. But the Muslim faction did not appear ready to compromise.

The proposal by special envoys Cyrus R. Vance and Lord Owen of Britain came as Washington considered postponing enforcement of a ban on Serbian flights over Bosnia until mid-January.

Vance, a former U.S. secretary of state, has opposed military intervention and is racing to achieve a peaceful settlement before it happens.

“The process we are starting today can make the difference between peace and war, between life and death for thousands of people,” Vance said. “Those gathered around the table have it in their power to prevent us from sliding into escalation or expansion of the conflict.”

He said the meeting that began Saturday in the European headquarters of the United Nations was the “best chance for peace.”

His plan in effect assigns about half of the country to the rebel Serbs and one small province in the north to the Croats but fixes no territory for the Muslims, although three of the proposed new provinces would have Muslim majorities.

Muslim President Alija Izetbegovic said the map is “not acceptable” in its current form. The decentralized provinces would require the government to give up its claim to central control over the country.

Sources close to Izetbegovic said his team found the map “incomprehensible.”

Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic described the proposal as “acceptable as a basis for starting the negotiation” but reiterated demands that the Serbs have their own state.

Croatian President Franjo Tudjman said the proposals were “basically acceptable.”

More than 17,000 people have been killed since Bosnian Serbs opposed to Bosnia’s independence from Yugoslavia began seizing territory last March. They now control about 70% of Bosnia.

The U.N. Security Council declared the skies over Bosnia-Herzegovina off limits to Serbian military flights in October. But the resolution did not include provisions for enforcement of the “no-fly” zone.

NATO foreign ministers, at the urging of Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, agreed last month to support an enforcement resolution, but action has been delayed by a disagreement between the United States and its allies.

The United States would like any resolution threatening to use force to take effect immediately, but Britain wants a one-month waiting period, a U.S. official said.

As a result, a compromise could be struck providing a deadline of mid-January. That would give Serbs time to ease off gradually while British and other allied peacekeeping forces in Bosnia are redeployed.