Defiant Bosnian Serb President Mr Nikola Poplasen threatened yesterday to use weapons to defend the Bosnian Serb entity, prompting an angry warning from the United States.
The hardliner was sacked by Bosnia's high representative, Mr Carlos Westendorp, on March 5th for "obstructing" the peace process, a decision followed within hours by an international ruling to make the key town of Brcko an autonomous district.
The two decisions roused Serb fury, notably the ruling on Brcko, which was captured by Serbs in the 1992-95 war and which they regard as crucial since it forms a narrow link between the two halves of their territory.
Mr Poplasen told a press conference: "We will defend with all means the decision of the [Bosnian Serb] national assembly . . . We have the right to defend ourselves." In a swift response, the US envoy, Mr Robert Gelbard, branded Mr Poplasen a "terrorist" and warned he would be held personally accountable for any attacks on Americans.
The Bosnian Serb assembly on Sunday rejected the two international rulings and called for a boycott of Bosnia's federal institutions.
Chris Stephen adds from Sarajevo:
Serb tanks blasted an ethnic Albanian village in southern Kosovo yesterday, while Western diplomats took stock of the latest failed attempt by an envoy to persuade Yugoslavia to sign a peace plan.
America's star mediator, Mr Richard Holbrooke, said his failure on Wednesday night to persuade the Yugoslav President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, to agree to NATO peacekeepers for the trouble-torn province put this Balkan country on a "collision course" with the West.
But the West is still divided about what action to take, with France and Italy against the threat of air strikes being levelled at the Serbs by the US.
Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes efforts are under way to persuade the Kosovo guerrillas, the Kosovo Liberation Army, to sign their half of the proposed peace plan to be debated at an international conference in Paris on Monday.
President Clinton warned the US Congress yesterday against doing anything to derail the Kosovo peace process and said if the conflict spreads the US would not be able to avoid being dragged into it. Republicans forced a debate on whether US troops should be sent to Kosovo, despite objections from the White House that it could damage fragile peace efforts.
