Bosnian Serbs, Government OK Cease-Fire : Balkans: Disputes over wording postpone truce a day. Release of prisoners delayed.

Bosnia’s Serbs and the Muslim-led government agreed to a pause in their war beginning today, but the deal fell short of what former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had hoped for.

Fighting appeared to ebb across Bosnia on Friday, and the United Nations reported no civilian casualties. The rebel Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, said his troops will hold their fire unless fired at, even before the weeklong truce begins at noon today (3 a.m. PST), the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA reported.

Carter left Sarajevo this week after getting both sides to agree to a four-month truce that was supposed to begin Friday. But talks bogged down as Yasushi Akashi, the U.N. chief for the former Yugoslavia, tried to work out details.

The Serbs and the government agreed in principle to a four-month truce, and they were to use the cease-fire starting today to work out the longer truce.

Until a comprehensive, four-month truce is reached, there will be no discussions about an international peace plan that is supposed to be the basis of their talks. The plan would require the Serbs to reduce their holdings in Bosnia to 49% from the 70% they now occupy.

Bosnia’s government wants the Serbs to agree to the plan, which the Serbs repeatedly have rejected, before talking about any modifications. The Serbs want to talk without first approving the plan.

Even in agreeing to the brief truce, the two sides refused to sign the same document. Both documents called for the cease-fire, but had different language regarding the release of prisoners and information about missing persons. That meant there would be no quick release of thousands of prisoners of war that Carter said had been agreed to.

Both sides took out a sentence referring to future negotiations on the international peace plan because they could not settle on the wording.

“Semantics sometimes acquires its own momentum and tends to become a monster,” said Akashi.