Pressuring The Serbs To Back Off

REPLAYING THE BLOODY LAND GRAB THEY INFLICTED on Croatia last year, Serbian irregular forces backed by the Serb-led Yugoslav army have carved out a slice of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Last week the Serbs redoubled their efforts, capturing several towns and trying to seize part of the capital city, Sarajevo. Now that the 12-nation European Community and the U.S. have recognized the independence of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Serbs are no longer simply aggressors but international aggressors.

As a result, warnings from abroad turned tougher. The E.C. set April 29 as a deadline for Serbia to halt the fighting. If it did not, it would face "the greatest possible international pressure," a German Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Bonn. "We are leaving open a whole range of options in the political, diplomatic and economic fields." In Washington the State Department denounced the Serbian attacks and also condemned counterattacks by Croatian and Slavic Muslim militias as obstacles to a peaceful solution. "We're calling on everyone to please do whatever they can" to end the shooting, said State's spokeswoman, Margaret Tutwiler.

Although a cease-fire arranged two weeks ago has been repeatedly violated, the E.C. tried again. Its chief negotiator, Britain's Lord Carrington, flew to Sarajevo and worked out another truce among Bosnia's Muslims, Croats and Serbs and the federal army. Leaders of the warring groups promised to observe the cease-fire and reopen negotiations, but such pledges in the past have gone unfulfilled.