Latest Bosnia Talks Offer Little Hope
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GENEVA — A new round of Bosnia peace talks appeared doomed to failure Tuesday, after a day of fruitless wrangling over a map dividing the former Yugoslav republic into three ethnic ministates.
Bosnian Serb, Muslim and Croat leaders agreed to prolong their negotiations into a second day today but held out little hope of an agreement to end the 21-month-old conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“The atmosphere around the negotiations has never been less conducive” to peace, U.N. mediator Thorvald Stoltenberg said before the talks.
“There is very small chance that the Muslims will accept (a deal),” Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic told journalists after more than 10 hours of discussions at Geneva’s Palais des Nations. “They want more war.”
The Muslims also said no headway had been made. “We have tried once again, but (the Serbs) still do not want to return territories seized by force,” said Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic.
Bosnia’s U.N. ambassador, Muhamed Sacirbey, even said the talks could collapse.
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