Muslim-Croatian Cease-Fire Appears to Hold in Bosnia : Balkans: The two sides are to meet for talks in Washington. The truce increases pressure on the Serbs to stop fighting.

A truce between Muslim-led government and Croatian forces in Bosnia appeared to be taking hold Friday on the eve of Washington-sponsored talks to reunite the former allies.

Under intense international pressure, particularly from the United States, both sides seemed determined to make the truce work. Many previous cease-fires in the 22-month war have failed.

The world community has been seeking to turn a truce in Serbian-besieged Sarajevo into a lasting peace for Bosnia-Herzegovina.

A Muslim-Croatian truce would increase pressure on the Serbs, considered the main aggressors, to stop fighting.

Serbian-Muslim clashes continued on several fronts, including Maglaj in north-central Bosnia. Bosnian radio said the city was reportedly under heavy shelling and several soldiers and civilians were killed.

Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that Serbian guns withdrawn from Sarajevo following a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ultimatum were being used to pound Maglaj, and he asked the world body to take action.

The Croatian-Muslim truce took effect after Croatian President Franjo Tudjman gave in to Western demands and accepted a U.S.-backed plan for a joint Muslim-Croatian state on Thursday. Bosnia’s Serbs would be free to annex their land to Serbia.

Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic and the leader of the Bosnian Croats, Kresimir Zubak, left for Washington to negotiate with Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic, who has been there for a week.

Muslim-led government troops and Croatian militias have been fighting in central Bosnia and the southwestern city of Mostar for nearly a year. Their previous alliance against the Serbs, who have captured 70% of Bosnia, fell apart as they each sought to control the remaining 30%.

U.N. officials and Bosnian and Croatian radio reported fighting in central Bosnia, particularly around Vitez, before the truce took effect at noon local time.

But by evening, the United Nations observed only “very limited small-arms exchange of fire in Gornji Vakuf, Vitez and Mostar,” said squadron leader David Fillingham, reached at the U.N. Bosnia command’s headquarters in Kiseljak.

Bosnian Croat spokesman Veso Vegar said, “The cease-fire is being respected” in Mostar, which is divided between Muslims and Croats.

In eastern Mostar, people crept out of cellars and swarmed into the sun-drenched streets--a luxury for many who have long dared to sneak out only at night to fetch water.

For nearly a year, about 50,000 Muslims have been under siege there, sandwiched between Croats in the western sector and Serbs on the other side.