The New York Times

Tuesday, August 5, 1997

U.S. Cuts Contact With Bosnia's Envoy Over Stalling on Pact

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

WASHINGTON, August, 4 - Frustrated by Stalling in carrying out

the Bosnia peace accords, the Clinton Administration announced today that it would suspend its contacts with Bosnia's Ambassador

to the United States, joining several European countries that

have severed relations with Bosnia's diplomats. The United States took the step after Bosnia's three-member presidency in

Sarajevo failed to agree on jointly appointing diplomats, who

represent all three of Bosnia's ethnic: Muslim, Croat and Serb.

The NATO allies and the international envoy overseeing the

Dayton peace accords in Bosnia, Carlos Westendorp of Spain, had set a deadline of August 1 for the appointment of ambassadors

who would represent all of Bosnia and not just the Muslim-dominated leadership in Sarajevo.

The appointments are one of a series of steps Bosnia's three-member presidency - Muslim, Croat and Serb - is supposed to

take as part of the Dayton accords to rebuild a single, unified state after three and a half years of civil war. The three, however, have failed to agree on this and other issues, ranging from establishing air routes to setting rules for citizenship.

The United States' decision, announced today at the State

Department, followed similar actions taken during the last two days by major European countries, including Germany, France, Britain, Austria, Sweden and Italy. It also came on the eve

of a new mission to the region by the Administration's special envoy to the Balkans, Robert S. Gelbard, and by Richard C. Holbrooke, the former envoy who negotiated the Dayton

accords in 1995.

A senior State Department official, who described the envoys' coming visit on condition of, anonymity, said it came at a

crucial time. It was intended, the official said, to cajole

both the Bosnians and leaders of neighboring states whose

actions had been central to achieving an agreement - President

Franjo Tudjman of Croatia and President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia - to carry out their promises.

In particular, the official added, Mr. Holbrooke would press

Mr. Milosevic to use his influence to remove Radovan Karadzic,

the former Bosnian Serb president, who has been indicted on war crimes charged, and to deliver him to the international tribunal in The Hague. Last year, Mr. Holbrooke brokered an agreement to have Dr. Karadzic resign and remove himself from public life - an agreement he now flagrantly, violates.

"Now is a critical moment where we need to get a breakthrough,"

the official said.

The suspension of recognition is largely symbolic.

But Bosnia's Ambassador, Sven Alkalaj, a Muslim who has represented the Muslim-led Government here since 1994, criticized today's announcement as harmful. "We are ceasing communications with the governments at this very important moment," he said. "I don't know how this can be productive."

Mr. Alkalaj said the international administrator, Mr. Westendorp, had proposed a division of ambassadorships that slighted Bosnia's Muslims.

Mr. Westendorp, who assumed the job in June, also faced

unusually sharp criticism from the State Department, with the official who spoke on condition of anonymity rebuking him for not spending enough time in Bosnia.

The United States' actions today underscored the Administration's growing frustration with Bosnia's slow progress in carrying out I the peace accords

Earlier this year Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright announced that the United States would redouble its efforts in

Bosnia. Despite a few positive steps, the situation remains stalemated, with all sides refusing to carry out their commitments under the Dayton accords.

The work of the presidency always has come to complete stop as the Bosnian Serb member, Momcilo Krajisnik, refused to attend meetings after British commandos arrested one Serb indicted for war

crimes and killed another last month. Mr. Krajisnik has so far

refused to attend a meeting on Thursday with Mr. Gelbard and Mr. Holbrooke. That prompted a stern warning today.

"It would be a real mistake on his part not to attend this meeting and participate in a constructive "way", said the official who

spoke on condition of anonymity. "It would demonstrate a lack of interest, and the repercussions would be serious from us."