November 23, 1995
Web posted at: 3:35 p.m. EST (2035 GMT)
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- The leader of the Bosnian Serbs has reportedly accepted the U.S.-backed peace plan for the former Yugoslavia.
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic accepted the deal after a meeting with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Yugoslavia's state-run Tanjug news agency reported Thursday. The two men met in the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade.
"Despite some painful solutions for Republika Srpska, Republika Srpska will fully implement the accord," Tanjug said. Srpska is the name of the Serb component of the Bosnian republic labeled by the peace accord agreed upon in Dayton, Ohio, Tuesday. The report was also carried on independent BK TV in Belgrade.
Milosevic represented the Bosnian Serb s during the talks. But some senior Bosnian Serb officials have accused him of selling them out. Milosevic won a suspension of crippling economic sanctions on Serb-led Yugoslavia for his mediation.
The accord divides Bosnia into Serb and Muslim-Croat regions. Sarajevo would become the Muslim-Croat capital. Sixty-thousand NATO troops are to police the pact; an estimated 20,000 of them could come from the United States.
Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic warned Serbs Wednesday that if they break the peace agreement, war could restart. And this time, his government wouldn't have the handicap of an arms embargo, which the U.N. Security Council eased Wednesday.
U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns warned the Bosnian Serbs "to understand that the time for peace has come and that the war is over." He said it would be "very much" to the Serbs' disadvantage to consider resuming the war.
Speaking upon his return to Belgrade, Milosevic said of the Bosnian Serbs, "I think they have no chance to hold on in case the military option has to be implemented to solve this problem."
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