President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia took centre-stage yesterday in the Bosnian Serb crisis, meeting hardliners opposed to the peace process and a US envoy sent by President Clinton to get the process back on track.
Apart from Banja Luka where a bomb exploded, killing one man and injuring two others, tensions eased in Serb-held areas of western Bosnia. However, US troops, backed up by combat helicopters, stood ready to counter any further violence after a day of rioting on Thursday.
Meanwhile, NATO ambassadors meeting in Brussels resolved to allow the Bosnian Stabilisation Force (SFOR) to move against local media stirring up unrest.
The US envoy, Mr Robert Gelbard, arrived in Belgrade yesterday for talks with Mr Milosevic, US diplomats said. Earlier, Mr Milosevic was reported to have met Bosnian Serb hardliners.
The independent BETA news agency said Mr Milosevic held talks with Mr Momcilo Krajisnik, who is the Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, the Bosnian Serb Prime Minister, Mr Gojko Klickovic, and the speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament, Mr Dragan Kalinic.
BETA said the Bosnian Serb President, Ms Biljana Plavsic, was invited to the meeting but did not take part.
Mr Milosevic had also been expected to travel to Banja Luka to meet the Plavsic faction, but informed sources said the Yugoslav president had no plans to visit the northern Bosnian town.
The US is pressuring Mr Milosevic to back Ms Plavsic, who is locked in a power struggle with hardliners opposed to the Dayton peace accords. In particular, the US is calling for those accused of war crimes, notably Dr Radovan Karadzic, to be brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
Mr Gelbard earlier this week reminded Mr Milosevic that he had signed the Dayton peace accords in December 1995 on behalf of the Bosnian Serbs and warned him of further isolation unless he worked to ensure respect for the agreements. He said he had drawn up a list for his meeting with Mr Milosevic outlining what "he should have done, what he has signed and promised and what he hasn't done".
Yesterday's diplomatic activity followed a day of violence directed against the NAT0-led force in Bosnia. In the northern town of Brcko on Thursday, Serb mobs looted UN police headquarters and destroyed some 40 vehicles and besieged the homes of UN officers.
As US troops, backed up by combat helicopters, stood ready to counter further violence yesterday, the town was reported to be more or less trouble-free, although bottles were thrown at a UN police patrol as they inspected their offices to assess the damage cause by disturbances.
In Paris, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr Jacques Rummelhardt, described the situation in the Republika Srpska as "particularly worrying", and denounced Thursday's violence.
Thursday's clashes have thrown further doubt on whether municipal polls will take place in BosniaHercegovina on September 13th and 14th as planned.
One man was killed yesterday and two others injured when a blast rocked Banja Luka, UN police said.
Local television said the blast was caused by a bomb and said it took place in front of the train station. The owner of a kiosk was killed and two bystanders were wounded, it said. The television station suggested the blast was linked to criminal activity and not to the power struggle involving Ms Plavsic and Bosnian Serb hardliners.