Republicans threaten to lift embargo

Differences between Britain and the United States appeared last night to be holding up agreement on the use of air strikes to defend the Gorazde enclave - even as the Clinton administration desperately sought to fend off an impending Senate vote on lifting the United Nations arms embargo, that could end the UN's peace-keeping mission in Bosnia entirely.

President Bill Clinton met key senators in mid afternoon to seek a deferral of a vote on the so-called Dole amendment so as not to undermine the frantic efforts under way here, in London and in Paris to forge a credible agreement to strengthen Unprofor and protect the remaining "safe havens" in Bosnia. But the amendment seemed headed for comfortable passage, possibly with the two-thirds majority required to override an inevitable presidential veto.

Speaking before a meeting with Malcolm Rifkind, the British Foreign Secretary, Warren Christopher, the Secretary of State, said the consequences would be "something I don't want to contemplate" if the embargo were unilaterally scrapped by the US.

Afterwards, Mr Rifkind delivered his own warning: lifting the embargo would spell the end of the Unprofor mission, but not allow Europe and the US to slip free of the Bosnian quagmire. It would simply be the end of a phase. Afterwards the allies would still be involved "in other ways, as much as they have been involved up to now. He called his words a "necessary and sobering reflection" of how matters really stood.

But there was little evidence that these admonitions were making much impact on Capitol Hill. Mr Dole's plan, which would not come into effect until after UN peace-keepers had left Bosnia or 12 weeks after a formal request from the Sarajevo government, also enjoys wide Democratic support.

The administration's "everchanging" arguments had failed, insisted Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat and co-sponsor of the measure. The allies had argued that if the embargo went, the Bosnian Serbs would take UN hostages and overrun enclaves, noted Mr Lieberman. "But they've already done all this,'' he said. "The fact is, the current policy has failed.''

But an extension of that policy is exactly what Washington is seeking. After phone calls by Mr Clinton to John Major and President Jacques Chirac of France, the three nations seemed to edging towards an agreement that would see moves to keep open the Mount Igman route into Sarajevo, and step up air strikes in Gorazde.

The snag lies in the so-called "dual key" authorisation procedure, giving the UN the final say on air strikes carried out by Nato planes. The US wants a free hand to carry out more muscular strikes, if necessary bypassing the UN, whose timidity it says has rendered air action useless this far.

But Britain fears that harsh strikes would only increase the danger for UN peace-keepers, of whom Britain supplies over 3,000, including 300 in Gorazde. No one likes "dual key", Mr Rifkind said. But while the US and Nato provide the planes, "We must protect the safety of UN troops on the ground." If US troops were among the peace-keepers, he noted, the dual key arrangement would not be necessary. A State Department spokesman denied earlier reports the allies had agreed on the use of air power to defend Gorazde.

Simultaneously, the prospect of airlifting European troops to Gorazde in US helicopters, as initially demanded by the French, seems to have evaporated, again because of British objections.

Mr Rifkind advocated measures to step up the enclave's protection. But he added that these must show "sound military judgement".