BELGRADE -- Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has proposed a six-point plan to end the fighting in Bosnia and invited former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to mediate, but the proposals have drawn a cool reaction from Western officials who insist he must first accept a great-powers peace plan.


In an interview with Cable News Network television Wednesday, Karadzic offered to give up some territory, release detained United Nations personnel, allow free passage to UN convoys and reopen Sarajevo airport. He later told reporters that orders to implement his plan had already been passed down the chain of command.


Bosnian Serb parliament speaker Momcilo Krajisnik said Karadzic's offer was aimed at securing "equal treatment of all three sides in Bosnia's conflict."


"We wanted a senior U.S. official to come and hear Serb arguments and we hope the United States will then treat the problem in Bosnia in a more positive way," he said, adding that Carter would arrive within the next seven days.


The offer drew a lukewarm response from Western officials and diplomats.


Many see it as a ploy to circumvent a peace plan drawn up by the international Contact Group -- the United States, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.


The White House said it was skeptical of the plan but that, if it proved genuine, it would help ease tensions in Bosnia.


"While we are skeptical about the Bosnian Serbs' intentions, if the steps outlined by Karadzic are implemented, they would help reduce tensions and ease the humanitarian situation in Bosnia," a statement said.


Nerkuz Arifhodzic, Bosnian ambassador to the Maghreb countries and a spokesman during the Islamic summit in Casablanca, told reporters Karadzic was merely offering to do things he would eventually have to do under foreign pressure.


"It's really not something serious but even so, if they want to show goodwill, it's welcome," he added.


NATO Secretary General Willy Claes shunned Karadzic's offer. "I do not see any indication of a peace plan." he said. "This is just an elaboration of points."


French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "There is a provocative aspect to the plan which is unacceptable."


Diplomats noted that Karadzic did not say what land would be ceded, nor indicate acceptance of the peace plan.


"The Contact Group plan is still the basis for any settlement but he's clearly hoping that the international community is so tired of this conflict that people are ready to discuss virtually any way of ending the war," one diplomat said.


A senior Belgrade analyst said Karadzic was "buying time once again and sowing confusion."


He said the move was aimed once again at driving a wedge among Western nations over the Contact Group plan and appeasing Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic, who has been exerting severe pressure on Karadzic since August to accept the plan.


Another European diplomat said Karadzic, having seen what Carter did in Haiti and North Korea, was clearly hoping that the United States might be "the weak link in the chain."