SARAJEVO -- The United Nations announced Wednesday that after two days of delay used by government forces to grab more Serb-held territory, combatants finally had settled on a cease-fire.


Antonio Pedauye, the UN civilian chief in Bosnia, said the 60-day, U.S.-brokered truce would take effect Thursday morning at one minute after midnight, and rival leaders issued orders to their units to halt all hostilities at that time.


The truce is intended to give negotiators a chance to finish cobbling together a plan to end the 3 1/2-year-old war in Bosnia. Negotiations are to begin at the end of the month in the United States, followed by a peace conference in Paris.


The truce originally was scheduled to take force Tuesday just after midnight. But natural gas and electricity were not restored in time, a key condition of cease-fire terms.


Some gas and electricity was restored Tuesday but the government said it was not enough, and refused again to start the truce. More utilities were restored Wednesday.


However, it appeared that the government also had been stalling to buy time for its army. Offensives were reported in at least four locations. Two key Serb-held towns in northwestern Bosnia, Sanski Most and Mrkonjic Grad, were reported to have fallen and government forces said they were poised to take the Serb stronghold of Banja Luka.


On Wednesday afternoon, the government said it was ready to stop fighting at midnight. It demanded that the Serbs declare eight hours in advance whether they would go along.


Hours of negotiations ensued, ending with Pedauye's announcement.


Russia's Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev was upbeat about chances for peace. He told a news conference in Helsinki that it was realistic to talk of a political settlement to the conflict within a month.


"It's quite realistic to speak of achieving political settlement in a matter of probably one month and the ceasefire is for 60 days, so if a political settlement is achieved in one month then a ceasefire ... will be substituted by agreement," he said.


The Serbs earlier had accused the Bosnian government of deliberately delaying the cease-fire to capture more territory.


UN officials also suggested the postponement was related to government gains.


"That argument can certainly be sustained by what is happening on the ground,'' said UN spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Vernon.


Serbs conceded they had lost the town of Mrkonjic Grad, located on a key road considered by many as a logical border between areas controlled by the Serbs, and by the Muslim-led government and its Croat allies.


The Serbs also indicated they had withdrawn from Sanski Mo


Kris Janowski, spokesman for the UN aid agency, said expulsions were accelerating. About 6,000 people already have been expelled and up to 8,000 more were expected in the next few days.


As fighting continued, NATO's ambassadors began a meeting in Brussels to discuss plans to send up to 60,000 heavily-armed troops to Bosnia to police any peace deal that emerges.


The aim is to give the peace force the licence and the muscle not only to ward off any attacks by rebellious factions from the warring parties but to nip in the bud any eruptions of renewed fighting between them.


The United States is expected to contribute up to 20,000 troops, with some 15,000 likely from Britain. Germany on Wednesday offered 5,000.


Russia, which is still deeply unhappy at the prospect of putting its forces under direct NATO command, is expected to leave in place the two battalions now in the UN peacekeeping force and add a reinforced division.


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