Balkan Odyssey

Owen served as co-chairman of the steering committee of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia in 1992-1995. From a negotiator's vantage point, he describes the search for a just settlement that would roll back Serb advances and allow the surviving ``ethnically cleansed'' to return to their homes. He reviews the Vance-Owen peace plan, which, he points out, featured strong internationally monitored human rights provisions, and describes how it came under ill-informed attack and was then ditched by the Clinton administration in May 1993. Owen remains convinced that if George Bush had won reelection in 1992, there would have been a settlement in Bosnia-Herzegovina based on the plan, probably without U.S. troops but with a firm commitment to logistical air support. Owen's account is useful for its insight into the relationship among the UN, NATO and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the current Balkan crisis. The author served as British foreign secretary from 1977 to 1979. Illustrations. (Feb.)