(1 Jan 1995) Eng/Serbo-Croat/Nat
A four-month ceasefire between the Bosnian government and rival Serbs took effect Sunday, raising fresh hopes for peace in the New Year.
The truce started effect at noon (1100 GMT), and military officials from the two sides met at Sarajevo's airport to begin working out how to separate their forces.
Sarajevo resounded with celebratory gunfire overnight to ring in the New Year but was quiet on Sunday morning.
However, Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic says he is pessimistic about the truce, saying it was up to the warmakers to make peace and that the four months would just mean both sides might just boost their forces.
SOUNDBITE:
"What is happening now is that we have a status quo which is clearly in favour of the aggressing forces from Serbia, so we would like to see that deadline. That deadline could be as well extended up to four months - the duration of the cessation of hostilities. By that time we do not have peace in Bosnia and the Serbs have not accepted the peace plan by that time it will be quite clear that what they really want is buying time, creating status quo and creating a seize and freeze situation. We have done what we could to make peace but alone we cannot make peace because we have not made the war. Those who made the war can make peace. The main thing is the political will behind the cessation of hostilities. Will there be real cessation of hostilities, real ceasefire, or is this a ploy to buy more time and to create more status quo for the aggressor? If that is the case then the international community must finally do its job and that is to arm Bosnia-Herzegovina."
SUPER CAPTION: Haris Silajdzic, Bosnian Prime Minister
The truce was finally signed on Saturday after a week-long cease-fire and hectic shuttle diplomacy by Lt. Gen. Sir Michael Rose, the UN commander in Bosnia.
Rose and Yasushi Akashi, the top UN official in former Yugoslavia, engaged in frantic mediation efforts between the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo and Pale, the Bosnian Serb
headquarters, throughout Saturday before the two sides signed.
A joint commission, set up under the agreement and chaired by Rose, met Sunday at the airport to begin implementing the agreement.
So far, the talks have gone well.
SOUNDBITE:
"Well, the talks finished a little while ago, and I think we're all pleasantly surprised by the positive response that we received from the parties. They appreciate the need to set up the structures necessary for the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement and to that end, we've agreed to have further meetings at a regional level tomorrow and the next day to get this process going."
SUPER CAPTION: Colonel Gary Cowerd, UNPROFOR spokesman
The cease-fire brokered by former US President Jimmy Carter 12 days ago called for future negotiations based on an international peace plan drafted by the United States,
Russia, France, Germany and Britain.
The Bosnian government has accepted the plan and insists the Serbs do likewise. But the Bosnian Serbs, who would be forced to relinquish about one-third of the 70 percent of
Bosnia they hold, have repeatedly rejected it.
But Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said Saturday, after he and Mladic signed the truce, that Serbs "are ready to negotiate a stable, political solution."
Despite Karadzic's words and Akashi's optimistic assessment, doubts persist as to whether the two sides are ready to silence their guns and sit down to negotiate.
More than 200,000 people are dead or missing.
SOUNDBITES: (Serbo-Croat)
(Civilian man)
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