U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY MEETS BOSNIAN SERB LEADERS AT PALE

SARAJEVO, Aug 30 (Hina) - US special envoy Robert Gelbard arrived on an unscheduled visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday after talks in Belgrade and Moscow. Upon arrival at Sarajevo airport, Gelbard set off for Pale, just southeast of the Bosnian capital, for talks with Serb hardliners loyal to indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic who are locked in a power struggle with Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic. In a statement carried by Pale radio on Saturday, the Serb member of the Bosnian three-man presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik, accused Plavsic of usurping power and staging a coupe, saying she and her collaborators attempted to divide the Serb entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina with the support of a part of the international community. Krajisnik described this week's events in the northeastern towns of Brcko and Bijeljina, where angry mobs had attacked SFOR troops and international police, as "the most critical moment in the implementation of the Dayton agreement." "We have never been closer to the possibility of endangering the whole peace agreement and the disappearance of the Dayton agreement," Krajisnik said, accusing the NATO-led peace force of overstepping its mandate. (hina) vm 301317 MET aug 97