SARAJEVO -- Bosnia's warring factions seemed set to meet a midnight Wednesday deadline for pulling back from Sarajevo's frontline flashpoints, in the first real test of their willingness to honor the Dayton peace deal.
"It's going pretty well but the local commander is allowed to be a little flexible and we'll wait until midnight to make a judgment," said a NATO source who asked not to be named.
Under the peace accord agreed in Dayton, Ohio, last month, rival military forces were required to pull back from designated sites along the confrontation line they fought over for 3 1/2 years by Wednesday, eight days after NATO formally took over the peace-keeping mission from the UN.
A nominal deadline of 11 a.m., local time, was set, but local French commander General Robert Rideau decided to extend it to midnight, giving more time for the withdrawal and evaluation.
"I think that by tonight all our objectives will have been met," said NATO spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Pernod.
In places such as Sarajevo's Vrbanja bridge, scene of a ferocious battle last May between French UN soldiers and Bosnian Serbs wearing stolen UN uniforms, the frontlines are sometimes only 20 meters apart.
"Sometimes, the frontlines cut through the same buildings. They are very close because the war here was static for a long time," said one officer.
The commander of NATO ground forces in Bosnia, Lieutenant General Sir Michael Walker, is expected to reveal whether the pullback has been completed by all sides at a press briefing Thursday.
Sarajevo is seen as a key to the success of "Operation Joint Endeavor," NATO's year-long mission to make the peace deal stick.
There is strong resistance to the accord among an estimated 40,000 separatist Serbs in Sarajevo whose suburbs are due to come under Moslem-Croat government control within three months as part of the deal.
Many Sarajevo Serbs, who fear retaliation after 3 1/2 years of Serb siege that claimed some 10,000 mainly Moslem victims, are leaving the city, ignoring government pleas to stay.
On Tuesday Bosnian Serb leaders appealed to the commander of the Implementation Force, Admiral Leighton Smith, to postpone the government takeover of the Serb districts. Smith turned down the Serb request to declare immediately an extension to the three-month deadline, but he promised to consider the issue and come up with a decision at a later date.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the U.S. Army was considering a request for help in protecting Sarajevo from future artillery and mortar fire. The newspaper, quoting unidentified military sources, said the request from Walker involved counter-fire radar systems, critical in pinpointing the source of incoming artillery rounds.
Russian airborne troops praised one of their commanders on Wednesday for meeting with Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader accused of war crimes.
The UN War Crimes Tribunal has accused Mladic of genocide and Maj.-Gen. Nikolai Staskov's meeting with him last week shocked the NATO command that has taken over Balkan peacekeeping operations.
Staskov led an advance team preparing for the arrival next month of Russian paratroopers who will participate in the NATO mission.
"It was necessary to meet with the people in whose hands real power is,'' the airborne troops press center said in remarks reported by Itar-Tass.aBy Sean Maguire
REUTERS
SARAJEVO -- Bosnia's warring factions seemed set to meet a midnight Wednesday deadline for pulling back from Sarajevo's frontline flashpoints, in the first real test of their willingness to honor the Dayton peace deal.
"It's going pretty well but the local commander is allowed to be a little flexible and we'll wait until midnight to make a judgment," said a NATO source who asked not to be named.
Under the peace accord agreed in Dayton, Ohio, last month, rival military forces were required to pull back from designated sites along the confrontation line they fought over for 3 1/2 years by Wednesday, eight days after NATO formally took over the peace-keeping mission from the UN.
A nominal deadline of 11 a.m., local time, was set, but local French commander General Robert Rideau decided to extend it to midnight, giving more time for the withdrawal and evaluation.
"I think that by tonight all our objectives will have been met," said NATO spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Pernod.
In places such as Sarajevo's Vrbanja bridge, scene of a ferocious battle last May between French UN soldiers and Bosnian Serbs wearing stolen UN uniforms, the frontlines are sometimes only 20 meters apart.
"Sometimes, the frontlines cut through the same buildings. They are very close because the war here was static for a long time," said one officer.
The commander of NATO ground forces in Bosnia, Lieutenant General Sir Michael Walker, is expected to reveal whether the pullback has been completed by all sides at a press briefing Thursday.
Sarajevo is seen as a key to the success of "Operation Joint Endeavor," NATO's year-long mission to make the peace deal stick.
There is strong resistance to the accord among an estimated 40,000 separatist Serbs in Sarajevo whose suburbs are due to come under Moslem-Croat government control within three months as part of the deal.
Many Sarajevo Serbs, who fear retaliation after 3 1/2 years of Serb siege that claimed some 10,000 mainly Moslem victims, are leaving the city, ignoring government pleas to stay.
On Tuesday Bosnian Serb leaders appealed to the commander of the Implementation Force, Admiral Leighton Smith, to postpone the government takeover of the Serb districts. Smith turned down the Serb request to declare immediately an extension to the three-month deadline, but he promised to consider the issue and come up with a decision at a later date.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the U.S. Army was considering a request for help in protecting Sarajevo from future artillery and mortar fire. The newspaper, quoting unidentified military sources, said the request from Walker involved counter-fire radar systems, critical in pinpointing the source of incoming artillery rounds.
Russian airborne troops praised one of their commanders on Wednesday for meeting with Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader accused of war crimes.
The UN War Crimes Tribunal has accused Mladic of genocide and Maj.-Gen. Nikolai Staskov's meeting with him last week shocked the NATO command that has taken over Balkan peacekeeping operations.
Staskov led an advance team preparing for the arrival next month of Russian paratroopers who will participate in the NATO mission.
"It was necessary to meet with the people in whose hands real power is,'' the airborne troops press center said in remarks reported by Itar-Tass.
"It's going pretty well but the local commander is allowed to be a little flexible and we'll wait until midnight to make a judgment," said a NATO source who asked not to be named.
Under the peace accord agreed in Dayton, Ohio, last month, rival military forces were required to pull back from designated sites along the confrontation line they fought over for 3 1/2 years by Wednesday, eight days after NATO formally took over the peace-keeping mission from the UN.
A nominal deadline of 11 a.m., local time, was set, but local French commander General Robert Rideau decided to extend it to midnight, giving more time for the withdrawal and evaluation.
"I think that by tonight all our objectives will have been met," said NATO spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Pernod.
In places such as Sarajevo's Vrbanja bridge, scene of a ferocious battle last May between French UN soldiers and Bosnian Serbs wearing stolen UN uniforms, the frontlines are sometimes only 20 meters apart.
"Sometimes, the frontlines cut through the same buildings. They are very close because the war here was static for a long time," said one officer.
The commander of NATO ground forces in Bosnia, Lieutenant General Sir Michael Walker, is expected to reveal whether the pullback has been completed by all sides at a press briefing Thursday.
Sarajevo is seen as a key to the success of "Operation Joint Endeavor," NATO's year-long mission to make the peace deal stick.
There is strong resistance to the accord among an estimated 40,000 separatist Serbs in Sarajevo whose suburbs are due to come under Moslem-Croat government control within three months as part of the deal.
Many Sarajevo Serbs, who fear retaliation after 3 1/2 years of Serb siege that claimed some 10,000 mainly Moslem victims, are leaving the city, ignoring government pleas to stay.
On Tuesday Bosnian Serb leaders appealed to the commander of the Implementation Force, Admiral Leighton Smith, to postpone the government takeover of the Serb districts. Smith turned down the Serb request to declare immediately an extension to the three-month deadline, but he promised to consider the issue and come up with a decision at a later date.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the U.S. Army was considering a request for help in protecting Sarajevo from future artillery and mortar fire. The newspaper, quoting unidentified military sources, said the request from Walker involved counter-fire radar systems, critical in pinpointing the source of incoming artillery rounds.
Russian airborne troops praised one of their commanders on Wednesday for meeting with Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader accused of war crimes.
The UN War Crimes Tribunal has accused Mladic of genocide and Maj.-Gen. Nikolai Staskov's meeting with him last week shocked the NATO command that has taken over Balkan peacekeeping operations.
Staskov led an advance team preparing for the arrival next month of Russian paratroopers who will participate in the NATO mission.
"It was necessary to meet with the people in whose hands real power is,'' the airborne troops press center said in remarks reported by Itar-Tass.aBy Sean Maguire
REUTERS
SARAJEVO -- Bosnia's warring factions seemed set to meet a midnight Wednesday deadline for pulling back from Sarajevo's frontline flashpoints, in the first real test of their willingness to honor the Dayton peace deal.
"It's going pretty well but the local commander is allowed to be a little flexible and we'll wait until midnight to make a judgment," said a NATO source who asked not to be named.
Under the peace accord agreed in Dayton, Ohio, last month, rival military forces were required to pull back from designated sites along the confrontation line they fought over for 3 1/2 years by Wednesday, eight days after NATO formally took over the peace-keeping mission from the UN.
A nominal deadline of 11 a.m., local time, was set, but local French commander General Robert Rideau decided to extend it to midnight, giving more time for the withdrawal and evaluation.
"I think that by tonight all our objectives will have been met," said NATO spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Richard Pernod.
In places such as Sarajevo's Vrbanja bridge, scene of a ferocious battle last May between French UN soldiers and Bosnian Serbs wearing stolen UN uniforms, the frontlines are sometimes only 20 meters apart.
"Sometimes, the frontlines cut through the same buildings. They are very close because the war here was static for a long time," said one officer.
The commander of NATO ground forces in Bosnia, Lieutenant General Sir Michael Walker, is expected to reveal whether the pullback has been completed by all sides at a press briefing Thursday.
Sarajevo is seen as a key to the success of "Operation Joint Endeavor," NATO's year-long mission to make the peace deal stick.
There is strong resistance to the accord among an estimated 40,000 separatist Serbs in Sarajevo whose suburbs are due to come under Moslem-Croat government control within three months as part of the deal.
Many Sarajevo Serbs, who fear retaliation after 3 1/2 years of Serb siege that claimed some 10,000 mainly Moslem victims, are leaving the city, ignoring government pleas to stay.
On Tuesday Bosnian Serb leaders appealed to the commander of the Implementation Force, Admiral Leighton Smith, to postpone the government takeover of the Serb districts. Smith turned down the Serb request to declare immediately an extension to the three-month deadline, but he promised to consider the issue and come up with a decision at a later date.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the U.S. Army was considering a request for help in protecting Sarajevo from future artillery and mortar fire. The newspaper, quoting unidentified military sources, said the request from Walker involved counter-fire radar systems, critical in pinpointing the source of incoming artillery rounds.
Russian airborne troops praised one of their commanders on Wednesday for meeting with Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader accused of war crimes.
The UN War Crimes Tribunal has accused Mladic of genocide and Maj.-Gen. Nikolai Staskov's meeting with him last week shocked the NATO command that has taken over Balkan peacekeeping operations.
Staskov led an advance team preparing for the arrival next month of Russian paratroopers who will participate in the NATO mission.
"It was necessary to meet with the people in whose hands real power is,'' the airborne troops press center said in remarks reported by Itar-Tass.