Slobodan Milosevic: may travel to Bosnia on Thursday or Friday

Milosevic May Intervene in Bosnian Serb Power Struggle

NATO said that it had received a request for landing approval for a plane to bring Mr Milosevic to the Serb entity in Bosnia.

Major Chris Riley, a spokesman for the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia, said that the request was "under consideration". There has been no official confirmation of the request from Belgrade, but sources close to Mr Milosevic have hinted that he might travel on Thursday or Friday.

Mr Milosevic has yet to comment on the power struggle among the Bosnian Serbs, which has pitted President Biljana Plavsic against allies of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader and indicted war criminal.

But the Yugoslav President wields strong influence among the Bosnian Serbs. Having supported them throughout the Bosnian war, he was instrumental in gaining Bosnian serb acceptance of the Dayton peace agreement in 1995.

Plavsic: gaining ground

Zivko Radisic, a close Bosnian Serb ally of Mr Milosevic, gave some insight into Mr Milosevic's thoughts on the crisis when he condemned the decision of the Bosnian Serb parliament to boycott local elections in September.

Mr Radisic said the decision of the parliament - which Ms Plavsic has tried to dissolve - was "a desperate attempt by the current authorities to preserve their position."

Meanwhile, Ms Plavsic's position is steadily gaining strength. Having won the support of military commanders in the west of the Bosnian Serb republic, around her stronghold of Banja Luka, she has become even more determined to wrest power away from the Karadzic faction, which is based in Pale, east of Sarajevo.