SARAJEVO -- The United Nations peacekeeping commander in Bosnia visited the enclave of Bihac on Wednesday in a bid to halt fighting which threatens the country's latest cease-fire.


Lieutenant General Sir Michael Rose flew to Bihac by helicopter from the Croatian port of Split, in his second attempt to enter the northwestern enclave after being blocked by Croatian Serbs surrounding the pocket earlier this month.


Bosnia's Moslem-led government has threatened to break the cease-fire if its troops continue to come under fire from Serb forces or their allies, rebel Moslem troops loyal to local businessman Fikret Abdic.


"General Rose is visiting Bihac pocket in order to assess the situation first hand, where there continues to be some fighting in the north between Serbs from Croatia and forces loyal to Fikret Abdic on one hand and Bosnian army troops on the other," said Thant Myint-U, a UN spokesman in Zagreb.


"He traveled there to see what can be done to make Abdic agree to a cease-fire."


Thant said the United Nations wanted Croatian Serb troops from the self-declared Republic of Serb Krajina, or RSK, to withdraw from the enclave and halt military operations supporting Abdic's troops.


"Hopefully, the RSK will make good on their repeated promises to cease all their activities in Bihac pocket," he said.


Rose arrived at the UN base in Coralici on Wednesday morning and was due to visit Bangladeshi peacekeepers and hold talks with General Atif Dudakovic, the commander of the government Fifth Corps defending Bihac enclave, as well as Abdic.


A longer truce appears impossible without Abdic's consent. He defied the Sarajevo government by declaring regional autonomy in the Bihac pocket in September 1993, and has maintained good relations with Serbs and Croats throughout the 32-month war.


If Rose cannot silence the guns around Bihac, UN efforts to secure a four-month cessation of hostilities appear doomed. That longer truce was tentatively negotiated by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter earlier this month.


The United Nations is putting an optimistic gloss on the current five-day-old truce, while admitting increased violations.


"In our opinion the cease-fire has taken hold," said UN spokesman Alexander Ivanko. "Although minor violations are being reported, it seems that both sides are exercising maximum restraint and are abiding by the provisions of the cease-fire."


In Zagreb,Thant said the UN force was working hard to negotiate a comprehensive cessation of hostilities for the whole of Bosnia beyond Jan. 1, 1995.


But the Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA reported that fighting intensified Wednesday between Abdic's troops and the government army in the area of Cazin, just five kilometers south of Coralici, and Bihac. It said the fiercest battle took place south of Velika Kladusa, in the very north of the Bihac pocket, "where Abdic's troops are advancing toward Bihac." The report could not be immediately confirmed.


(Reuters, AP)