Weather thwarts UN air strikes

BOSNIAN SERB forces narrowly escaped Western retribution for two attacks on French peace-keepers in north-western Bosnia on Saturday night after bad weather forced two Nato gunships to abandon their mission to bomb the Serbian positions. The United Nations authorised the use of air strikes after UN troops twice came under fire from Serbian guns besieging the Muslim enclave of Bihac.

Two tank shells were fired at a UN observation post on Saturday, and hours later the French UN base at Bihac came under heavy machine-gun and anti-aircraft fire. No casualties were reported from either incident, although a peace-keeper in the area was shot dead on Friday by a sniper.

'Because of the situation the French requested close air support,' said Major Rob Annink of the UN in Sarajevo, a request confirmed by Yasushi Akashi, the UN envoy to the area, and executed by Nato. 'But due to bad weather and the fact that the guns had retreated into the woods, there was no air attack,' Major Annink said.

It is the first time the UN has approved such a request, although Mr Akashi came close to taking action when Swedish peace-keepers were attacked near Tuzla last month. Major Annink said Serbian leaders had been warned the UN was taking 'a firm stand', adding that 'every minute there is a Nato aircraft in the sky' over Bosnia.

Nato jets were also reported to have buzzed the besieged Muslim enclave of Maglaj yesterday morning, apparently in an attempt to end a Serbian artillery assault on the beleaguered town and aid the entry of UN military observers (Unmos) for the first time in nine months. Two teams of Unmos, 10 in all, are now in the town, which has been almost completely cut off from the outside world since last summer. According to a ham radio caller from Maglaj, the jets 'came in very low and were here for 30 minutes or so. I think they influenced the Serbs to stop their attacks.'

Yesterday morning the Serbs are reported to have fired some 500 shells at the town during a two-and-a-half hour barrage, wounding at least two civilians.

VIENNA (Reuter) - Bosnia's Muslims and Croats ended 10 days of talks at the United States embassy in Vienna yesterday with a pact to establish a federation in Bosnia. The final agreement, more than 50 pages long, will be formally signed in Washington this week.

(Photograph omitted)