The new Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, has arrived in Bosnia-Hercegovina - the first such trip by a Yugoslav leader since Bosnia declared independence in 1992.

The visit has been controversial because Mr Kostunica originally planned to go only to the Bosnian Serb Republic, to attend the reburial of a Serb poet, Jovan Ducic, who died in exile in 1943.

But following concern expressed by Bosnian officials and Western envoys, he agreed to go to the capital Sarajevo for brief talks at the airport with the three-man collective presidency.

The United Nations administrator in Bosnia, Jacques Klein, said the visit showed that Mr Kostunica recognised that the relationship between Bosnia and Yugoslavia was the key to stability in the region.

Bosnia-Hercegovina broke away from Yugoslavia in 1992, leading to a devastating conflict which raged until 1995, when a peace deal divided Bosnia into two autonomous entities - a Serb republic and Muslim-Croat federation.

Healing wounds

Mr Kostunica's predecessor, Slobodan Milosevic, is widely blamed for inciting the conflict and supporting the Bosnian Serb separatists.

But Mr Kostunica says he wants to restore diplomatic ties between Yugoslavia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, and has stressed that Belgrade has no territorial claim on its Balkan neighbour.

Bosnian Serb leaders gave Mr Kostunica a presidential welcome - despite the fact that he had told the Sarajevo leadership that it was a private visit that would not be politicised.

The Bosnian Serb Republic provided an honour guard for Mr Kostunica in Trebinje, some 200km (120 miles) south of Sarajevo.

The remains of Jovan Ducic - a nationalist poet who opposed a common Yugoslav state - were brought to Trebinje from the United States for the reburial ceremony.