U.S. Rejects French Proposal to Impose Bosnia Settlement : Balkans: Secretary of State Christopher makes it clear Administration is unwilling to force deal on Muslim-led government.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher on Monday rejected a French proposal that the United States, European members of NATO and Russia impose a settlement on the warring parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the latest sign of confusion among U.S. allies over policy toward the former Yugoslav republic.

In talks with both French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, Christopher made it clear that the United States is not willing to impose a deal on Bosnia’s Muslim-led government.

He also said that the French proposal implies an ultimatum that could involve deployment of hundreds of thousands of foreign troops as enforcers if Bosnia’s Serbs, Muslims and Croats failed to comply. Washington has long refused to commit U.S. ground troops except to help enforce a peace that all sides voluntarily approve.

In Washington, President Clinton said that the Bosnian factions are “going to have to make up their own mind to quit killing each other. I don’t think that the international community has the capacity to stop people within that nation from their civil war until they decide to do it.”

The United States instead agreed to hold further talks among French and American experts and possibly other allies to “reinvigorate” peace efforts, U.S. officials said.

A senior U.S. official described the French proposal as “an ill-formed idea” that reflects domestic political pressures as much as France’s preferences in Bosnia. “It was pieced together and didn’t have a lot of precision,” he said.

Indeed, the desperate proposal indicated growing worries here over the conflict, to which France has committed 6,000 troops, the largest contingent in the 15,000-strong U.N. force. “Maybe, because we are closer to it, we are more pessimistic than the Americans,” a senior French diplomat said.

The United States does not believe that any imposed solution would stick--most of the cease-fires have not held.

Washington and Paris also have a difference of opinion about the Bosnian Muslims, whom Washington views as the aggrieved party.

“Their last demands are not unreasonable,” a senior U.S. official said. “So we’re not prepared to pressure the Muslims. The party that ought to be pressured is the Serbs. After all, they are principal aggressors.”

The French view the Bosnian Muslims as the party dragging its feet over proposals to divide the country among its three main ethnic components.

The French proposal emerged in a context of increasing pessimism in Europe over any imminent prospects for resolution of the bloodiest regional conflict in decades.

Juppe told Christopher France believes the situation in Bosnia is deteriorating, while peace formulas produced by talks in Geneva have repeatedly failed to win support of the three main parties.

The French also believe that the NATO resolutions from the Brussels summit attended by Clinton just two weeks ago have little chance of being implemented soon. NATO members adopted a tough line on the use of air strikes if requested by U.N. commanders in Bosnia.

“What we see now is that the situation is in deadlock, impasse,” said Richard Duque, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. “We think that joint efforts by the Europeans, the United States and also the Russians are needed to get out of the current deadlock.”

Meanwhile, there are growing signs of trouble for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Bosnia. France has hinted it is reviewing its participation.

British Defense Minister Malcolm Rifkind said Sunday that Britain may withdraw its 2,500-member force this summer.

And various European commanders of the U.N. force have blasted the international community and the U.N. leadership for their lack of support for halting hostilities.

On Sunday, Lt. Gen. Francis Briquemont, the retiring Belgian commander of U.N. forces in Bosnia, said he and his troops were facing a crisis of confidence because of a lack of resources to fulfill their mission.

“I don’t know how many times I shall have to repeat that we do not have enough means both in Croatia and in Bosnia,” he said.

Briquemont was replaced on Monday by Michael Rose, a former head of Britain’s Special Air Service commandos, after asking to be relieved of his duties and criticizing the U.N. mission as too idealistic and inadequately supported.

What the French want is a more aggressive, high-profile stance that might finally be able to squeeze all three ethnic combatants to a resolution. In their 90-minute meeting, Juppe suggested to Christopher that the allies impose a plan based on a 1993 European proposal, which calls for a division of land among the three parties but has no detailed territorial component, U.S. officials said.

While the Clinton Administration shares French frustration, it does not share the pessimism. On each past occasion when the situation has looked irretrievable, the conflict has eased somewhat, U.S. officials said Monday.

Washington also fears that foreign forces possibly necessary to impose a settlement would be in danger of coming under fire from all three fronts. Various U.S. estimates have predicted that 300,000 to 500,000 foreign troops would be needed on the ground to enforce a settlement.

The Paris talks reflect the degree to which Bosnia is increasingly overtaking the foreign policy agenda in Europe and the United States.

Bosnia was originally not scheduled to be a major item during Christopher’s Paris visit. Talks with the French were instead intended to focus on Clinton’s Moscow trip, the proposed “Partnership for Peace” alliance with East European and ex-Soviet states and France’s recent early release of two Iranians convicted of terrorism.

Bosnia was added by France during the final stages of planning for the talks.

And despite agreement on many other issues during their talks, the meeting between Christopher and Juppe ended on a distinctly discordant note, “without much warmth left in the room,” according to one participant.

Yet a senior U.S. official denied that allied policy on Bosnia is falling apart. “Disarray, no. Deep disagreement, yes,” he said.

Christopher also met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, calling their discussions “positive and constructive.”

But the secretary said that China’s progress on human rights issues remained insufficient to warrant renewed U.S. trade benefits.