BOSNIA . . . MUSLIMS COME TO THE TABLE

Secretary of State Warren Christopher met with the foreign ministers of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia at the United Nations to prepare for Tuesday's peace talks. U.S. negotiators Roberts Owen and Christopher Hill made an unscheduled visit to Sarajevo today to reassure recalcitrant Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic that the Bosnian Serbs would not push for their own separate state during negotiations. "The government said the Geneva agreement of September 8 states that Bosnia remain as one country with an autonomous Serb region, and had feared that the Serbs believe this agreement would allow them a vote to leave Bosnia and join with Serbia," reports Alexandra Stiglmayer from Sarajevo. At the same time, another potential stumbling block to the New York talks has emerged: reports of a renewed push by Muslim forces to isolate Serb-held Doboj, a vital link between Serbia and Serb-held areas of western Bosnia.