http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/current/politics/stories/bosnia.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The foreign ministers of Bosnia, Croatia and the Yugoslav federation will begin peace talks in Geneva late next week to seek an end to the Balkan war, the United States announced Friday.
``As a result of intensive discussions this week between the United States and the governments of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia, Montenegro, I would like to announce that the foreign ministers of these three countries will meet in Geneva late next week to continue the quest for peace in the Balkans,'' State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said at a news briefing.
Burns said he expected the initial Geneva meeting to last a day or so. Later, a U.S. official said the Geneva talks might take place ``possibly Friday and Saturday.''
Burns issued the official U.S. statement after talks between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke and parties to the Balkan conflict and retaliatory air raids by NATO warplanes against Bosnian Serb positions.
NATO officials said the raids had been suspended Friday to provide a breather for diplomacy.
At the State Department, Burns said the Geneva meeting would aim ``to develop basic principles for a settlement as a foundation for intensive negotiations aimed at achieving a peace agreement.''
He added: ``After four years of brutal warfare, all sides must now commit themselves to resolve their differences peacefully. The United States is prepared to do everything in its power, working with its Contact Group partners and others, to assist the parties as they now begin the search for peace.''
The Contact Group, formed to seek a diplomatic solution to the Balkan war, comprises the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia.
Burns said Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Strobe Talbott had spoken on Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev and that Kozyrev expressed support for the prospective Geneva conference.
Moscow's support was seen as critical because Russia has traditional ethnic and political ties with the Serbs and has objected to some Western initiatives in the past.
Burns said Holbrooke would meet Saturday with Russian government officials in Europe in addition to holding meetings in Bonn with Contact Group officials and in Brussels with representatives of the North Atlantic Council.