THE commander of Nato ground forces in Bosnia will meet a senior Bosnian Serb general in Pale, east of Sarajevo, this morning in the hope of restoring working contacts with the Serb military.
Lieut Gen Sir Michael Walker of Nato accepted the invitation of Maj Gen Zdravko Tolimir, deputy commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, to come to Pale for the meeting at 10 a.m. according to a Nato news release yesterday.
Gen Tolimir failed to attend an important military meeting on the US aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the Adriatic Sea yesterday.
Overall Nato commander for Bosnia, Admiral Leighton Smith, the commanders of Bosnian government and Bosnian Croat forces and Walker met on the carrier despite Tolimir's absence.
Nato's Implementation Force (I.for) criticised the general's failure to turn up.
The meeting, intended to bring together the key commanders of Bosnia's three former warring armies and Nato chiefs, was the first test of a weekend pledge by Balkan presidents to put the peace process back on track.
In a blunt statement issued on board the carrier, I-for said "The [Bosnian Serb] Republic of Srpska is in contradiction of the Dayton peace accord and the agreement at the Rome summit at the weekend."
Yesterday's meeting at sea was announced at the end of intensive weekend discussions in Rome between the Presidents of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia together with members of the so called Contact Group and the US mediator, Mr Richard Holbrooke.
It was intended to mark a resumption of contacts between the Bosnian Serbs and both I-for and the Muslim Croat federation. The Bosnian Serb army command, angry at the detention of two of its senior officers, broke off contacts earlier this month.
Admiral Leighton Smith said Gen Tolimir's political masters wanted him here. It is unconscionable that he is not here. It is just not very smart.
Serbia's President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, and Mr Momcilo Krajisnik, president of the Bosnian Serb assembly, had said he would attend, Admiral Smith added.
Admiral Smith arrived on the USS George Washington earlier yesterday for the meeting. He was followed by Gen Sir Michael Walker, the commander of I-for ground forces in Bosnia, and the EU representative to Bosnia, Mr Carl Bildt.
President Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia said yesterday the Rome summit had averted renewed war in the divided city of Mostar. Muslim and Croat officials had reached a compromise over the administration of the city, he told a news conference, adding. The situation in Mostar was on the verge, of clashes. We almost had war.
The city will be officially reunified today, with full freedom of movement guaranteed. "This means all barriers and check points will come down," he added.
A police force of Muslims and Croats, backed by officers from Croatia and supervised by a multinational contingent, will maintain law and order.
The city has been under EU administration since 1994.
Mr Izetbegovic, who on Friday told the visiting Croatian Foreign Minister, Mr Mate Granic, that no further compromise was possible over the boundaries, said revisions had been made.
"The revision is not a particularly big one," he said.
The airport, the railway station and the water works will stay in a jointly run central district.