A Serb Revisits Enemy Territory

SARAJEVO: Nikola Koljevic, vice-president of the Serb Republic, on Tuesday visited Sarajevo, the city that he had been helping bomb only four months ago. "It's certainly the first time that any of the Pale leadership has publicly traveled to government-held Sarajevo since the war began in 1992," reports TIME's Massimo Calabresi. "And though it is probably more of a grip-and-grin meeting, it's still a significant step. Koljevic is thought to be connected to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, so there is at least a speculative link to power there." Koljevic met with Kresimir Zubak, president of the Muslim and Croat federation that the Dayton peace accord says will govern half of Bosnia. According to a member of a delegation from the 52-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the former enemies talked "openly about common issues," such as defusing tensions in Serb-held suburbs of Sarajevo and the elections which are scheduled for next fall. "If nothing else," says Calabresi, "this meeting indicates that there is not a complete deadlock over the issue of the transfer of authority in Sarajevo."