Allies Take New Tack to End Bosnia War : Diplomacy: U.S., European Union, U.N., Russia will meet for the first time today in search of a permanent cease-fire.

After high-level talks, Secretary of State Warren Christopher and British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd announced Monday that the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union will launch a joint diplomatic initiative to move the Bosnian crisis toward a permanent cease-fire and a political settlement.

They hope to coordinate the oft-confused array of international peace efforts and give their coalition greater clout in dealing with the warring parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Their new “contact group” is scheduled to meet for the first time here today. It is intended to follow up on the ultimatum that took effect last weekend ordering Bosnian Serbs to withdraw from the besieged Bosnian city of Gorazde--and to prevent the confrontations that have followed other Balkan cease-fires.

This group “is a way . . . to try to regain the momentum that existed prior to the situation in Gorazde and to try to carry forward, to build on some tentative agreements that were reached (at earlier peace talks) in Geneva,” Christopher said at a news conference after talks with British Prime Minister John Major.

In the next two weeks, group members are expected to engage in talks with the largely Muslim government and Serbian and Croatian forces about outlines of a Bosnian peace plan. The result is likely to be a loose confederation or union of two or more Muslim, Serbian and Croatian areas.

“The assumption continues to be that the integrity of Bosnia will be preserved and that the political solution that will result would take that into account,” said a senior U.S. official on the trip.

Hurd said any peace must involve a “substantial withdrawal” by Bosnian Serbs. But Christopher indicated that the Muslim government will not get back significant areas lost militarily in the two-year war, which has led to more than 200,000 dead or missing.

“I don’t believe anybody has recently thought that the matter could go back to where it was at the very beginning,” Christopher said.

Pressed on why the Bosnian Serbs should be any more cooperative this time after repeatedly breaking previous cease-fires and violating U.N.-declared “safe havens,” Hurd tried to strike an optimistic note about the latest developments.

“If they want to have a settled future, if they want to reconstruct towns and villages, if they want to see some decent standard of living for themselves and their children, if they want a place in Europe and the world, then they’ll need to settle,” he said. “Because they’re not going to achieve any of those things by hanging on to land which they now occupy by force.”

In Washington, President Clinton also tried to sound upbeat. “It appears that the pressure brought to bear by NATO and the United Nations has worked, that the cease-fire is working, that the withdrawal is continuing. It’s now clearly time to get the diplomatic initiatives going again while we maintain our vigilance,” he said.

European officials hope this initiative will lead to an international conference on Bosnia. Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and French President Francois Mitterrand have both favored a summit of world powers and Bosnian factions. But U.S. officials stressed Monday that weeks of preparatory work must be done before a decision on a conference can even be made.

Meantime, the Clinton Administration is issuing warnings about potential cease-fire violations or delays. Christopher, who conducted his meetings on the eve of a Tuesday night deadline for Serbian forces to withdraw their heavy weapons at least 12 miles from Gorazde, pointedly noted that his discussions had convinced him of the “clear resolve on all of our parts to enforce the NATO deadline.”