Last week the Serbs of war-torn Bosnia took a step along the road to peace. They agreed to move their guns away from the city of Sarajevo. Those guns have terrorized Sarajevo for 3 1/2 years. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) began bombing Bosnian Serb military positions two weeks ago. NATO said the bombing would stop when the Bosnian Serbs removed their guns.
At first, the Serb military commander Ratko Mladic vowed to fight to the death. But last Thursday U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke met with Mladic, Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia. After an 11-hour meeting, they agreed to remove the heavy weapons and allow Sarajevo airport to reopen.
For 41 months, all the people of Bosnia have been caught in this tragic war. Last week President Bill Clinton announced that at last there was "some reason to hope." That hope may die if the Serbs do not carry out their side of the agreement. The pause in the bombing, said NATO, was only "temporary."