GENEVA : No Easy Answers

Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Serb and Croat leaders, whose forces together occupy more than 90% of the country, met over the weekend to discuss details of its division into three pieces, hoping to present the Muslim-led government with a fait accompli at peace talks that resume in Geneva today.

Thwarted by rebel Serbs in their bid to bring peace to Bosnia by dividing it into 10 provinces, Western mediators are now pressing the Sarajevo government to agree to the three-way split.

Although Muslims make up 44% of the republic and are backed by many urban Croats and Serbs in their preference for unity and integration, they may be forced to accept. Without the threat of Western intervention to impose a more equitable solution, Bosnians effectively face a choice between division or annihilation.