U.S. Envoy Gets Some Cooperation From Bosnia Leaders

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, crisscrossing the Balkans to save the peace accords he brokered, won agreement among Bosnian leaders early today on dividing up ambassadorships.

However, there were no breakthroughs on any of the other key issues under discussion by the leaders of postwar Bosnia, including the surrender of war crimes suspects to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague.

Bosnia’s three-man presidency heads an ineffective federal government of Muslims, Serbs and Croats that is supposed to bind the country back together.

Bosnia’s leaders missed last week’s deadline for taking critical steps toward integrating the government: dividing up the ambassadorships; agreeing on a citizenship law; and reopening the country’s shattered airports.

Nations overseeing the peace in Bosnia say the 31 Bosnian foreign ambassadorships must be divided fairly among Muslims, Croats and Serbs. The agreement had been held up by each side’s desire to secure the U.S. posting.

The agreement foresees the influential U.S. posting going to the Bosnian Serbs.

Tom Leary, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, said the agreement, which had not been signed, was brokered after more than 10 hours of meetings with the three-man presidency.