Washington Backs U.N. Plan for Bosnia Air Support : Balkans: Secretary of State Christopher’s declaration draws U.S. a step closer to combat operations.

The United States supports a proposal by U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to use U.S. and allied air power to help open an airport in Bosnia for aid flights and to relieve a beleaguered Canadian peacekeeping unit, Secretary of State Warren Christopher said Monday.

By offering seemingly unqualified backing for Boutros-Ghali’s plan, Christopher drew the United States a step closer to combat operations in the Balkans.

The secretary general said last Friday that he was ready to call for allied air strikes to punish Serbian guerrillas if they interfere with U.N. efforts to rotate the garrison at Srebrenica or to reopen the airport at Tuzla. Both towns are crowded with desperate Muslim refugees who have fled fighting elsewhere in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

“We’ve endorsed that report,” Christopher told reporters. “That could lead to the use of air power if there’s not an agreement for the replacement of the Canadian troops at Srebrenica or for the opening of the airport at Tuzla.”

President Clinton and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl discussed the Bosnia conflict Monday during a 1 1/2-hour working lunch at an Italian restaurant in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood.

But U.S. officials discouraged speculation that the discussion--or talks scheduled for later this week with British and European Union leaders--was aimed at forging a new policy to counter French efforts to pressure the Muslim-led Bosnian government into accepting a peace settlement that would ratify territorial gains registered by Serbian and Croatian militias during the bloody ethnic war.

Nevertheless, Christopher and other State Department officials have made no secret of their distaste for the French approach of applying pressure on the Bosnian government, which Washington considers to be the victim of Serbian and Croatian aggression.

Before meeting with Clinton, in an address to the National Governors’ Assn. in Washington, Kohl urged the United States to continue its leadership role in world affairs and said that there is a need for a strong European defense policy.

“The evil spirits of nationalism are not only at large in the Balkans,” Kohl said. The “unfortunate signs that war has not yet been banished” make creation of a European security policy “more important than ever.”

Later, Kohl indicated he would support U.N. efforts to stop the flow of Croatian troops across the border into Bosnia. At a news conference, Kohl said he could not confirm that such movements were taking place. But if they were, he said, he would disapprove “very severely and find a way to (put) my disapproval into practice.”

At the same time, Kohl repeated his nation’s opposition to sending outside ground troops into the conflict. That would create “an incredible blood bath,” he said.

Boutros-Ghali’s plan for Srebrenica and Tuzla is a complex combination of diplomacy and force. It is designed to permit relief flights to the isolated Tuzla enclave and to replace the Canadian unit in Srebrenica with a larger Dutch contingent.

Both towns were designated by the United Nations as “safe areas” for Muslim refugees but are targets of steady Serbian bombardment.

Under Boutros-Ghali’s proposal, the United Nations would negotiate with the Serbs in an effort to obtain their agreement on a cease-fire to permit the relief of Tuzla and Srebrenica without opposition.

If the Serbs agree, U.N. forces would carry out the operations, backed by NATO air power, which would be ready to strike in case the Serbs go back on their promise. Even if the Serbs do not agree to a cease-fire, Boutros-Ghali said, the United Nations might attempt the operations anyway, protected by allied air cover.

State Department spokesman Mike McCurry said the Clinton Administration agrees with Boutros-Ghali that the United States and its allies have the authority to provide close air support for U.N. troops without further authorization by either the Security Council or NATO’s North Atlantic Council.

But, McCurry said, air cover for Srebrenica and Tuzla may take some time to organize.