Bosnia Leaders OK Truce--but New Fighting Erupts

Leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s ethnic groups sealed a truce Sunday and agreed to place heavy weapons under international control, a European Community official said.

Previous agreements among Bosnia’s feuding leaders have collapsed within days, but EC envoy Jose Cutileiro said all parties are now “aware of the gravity of the situation.”

Despite the promise of peace, fighting raged across Bosnia’s Kupres plain early today, hours after the truce took effect at midnight, Radio Sarajevo reported. Sporadic gun battles were also reported in Sarajevo.

Many Bosnians were skeptical that any cease-fire would succeed.

The Yugoslav military reported that 350 Croat fighters were killed and 112 taken prisoner in a rout of Croatian forces on the Kupres plain in recent days, the Tanjug news agency reported. There was no independent confirmation.

But an Associated Press reporter in Kupres confirmed that the battle-scarred town was controlled by the Yugoslav army. Heavy shelling resounded and the rattle of gunfire was heard from front lines about seven miles southwest of Kupres.

Bosnia has become engulfed in bloodshed since Feb. 29, when the state’s dominant Muslims and Croats voted for independence. Serbs, who make up a third of Bosnia’s 4.3 million people, want to stay in Yugoslavia.

Under the cease-fire, all military forces except the Serb-led federal army and Bosnian government forces would be disbanded and heavy weapons removed from front lines under EC supervision within a 24-hour period.

Talks were to begin “in the most urgent way” on demarcating ethnic regions within Bosnia and all parties reaffirmed their opposition to “any territorial gain by force,” the accord said.

Fighting among Slavic Muslims, Serbs, Croats and the Yugoslav army has intensified recently.

Serb militias have attacked Bosnian towns, apparently aiming to carve a swath of Serb-held territories, similar to their strategy in Croatia. Croatian forces also have been fighting for territory.

International peace efforts have intensified. U.N. special envoy Cyrus R. Vance is expected to leave New York today for Bosnia.