1 The United Nations' new commander and supply convoys headed today for northwest Bosnia, where persistent fighting has hindered efforts to restart peace talks.
2 Sporadic fighting was reported late Wednesday and early today in two areas of the Bihac region, around the towns of Velika Kladusa and Bihac. Bosnian Serbs said Muslim-led government soldiers attacked them farther east around Bosanska Krupa.
3 U.N. officials said Lt. Gen. Rupert Smith, who took over command of 24,000 peacekeeping troops in Bosnia last month, set off today for the Bihac area to visit Bangladeshi peacekeepers and the commander of the government's beleaguered 5th Corps, Gen. Atif Dudakovic.
4 One month into what is supposed to be a four-month truce, fighting has persisted in northwest Bosnia, impeding efforts to restart peace talks.
5 The Bosnian government and Bosnian Serbs signed the truce accord, but the Serbs' allies -- Serbs from Croatia and renegade Bosnian Muslims opposed to the Muslim-led Bosnian government -- did not.
6 Months of intense fighting in the northwest has left both peacekeepers and civilians short of food.
7 A resupply convoy for the Bangladeshis arrived in the area on Wednesday. Today, an aid convoy was on its way to civilians, said Kris Janowski, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
8 Janowski said the eight trucks carried 97 tons of baby food, detergents, salt and medical supplies. The convoy was expected to reach its destination on Friday.
9 U.N. officials and diplomats elsewhere were trying to shore up the cease-fire and make progress on a plan to end 34 months of war.
10 American officials said Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke would travel to Germany over the weekend for talks on bolstering a Croat-Muslim federation.
11 The federation, backed by the United States, is 10 months old and ended bitter fighting between the two sides, who started the Bosnian war as allies against the Serbs.
12 But the alliance is precarious. The two sides have done little more than institutionalize a cease-fire.
13 Some analysts suspect that President Franjo Tudjman of Croatia ordered 12,000 U.N. peacekeepers to leave his country because he and President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia have reached an understanding about carving up the former Yugoslavia. That would mean an end to the Croat-Muslim federation.
14 Meanwhile, U.N. officials in Sarajevo said they would try to send a few more trucks with firewood along a key road into Sarajevo today.
15 The route reopened Wednesday under an agreement between Bosnian Serbs and the government, but is of limited use because the Serbs have restricted it to charities operating under the umbrella of the U.N. relief agency.
16 Those organizations already have alternate routes, but Bosnian charities that have no other options are banned from it.

Sporadic fighting was reported late Wednesday and early today in two areas of the Bihac region , around the towns of Velika Kladusa and Bihac . Bosnian Serbs said Muslim - led government soldiers attacked them farther east around Bosanska Krupa .
Muslim - led government soldiers attacked
Why are their government soldiers attacking the Serbs? 