After a year of fighting, the military commanders for Bosnian Muslims and Croats signed an agreement Saturday to merge their armies. The deal was another step in a U.S.-led effort to reunite the former allies. U.S. Gen. John Galvin, who helped mediate the pact, said he hoped it would be "a strong step toward peace." Fran Visnar, a military analyst, estimated the force would number about 130,000 men. Progress also was reported in related negotiations on a Bosnian Croat and Muslim federation, being conducted at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. But the war continued, as Bosnian government radio said Saturday more than 400 artillery shells and seven rockets slammed into the besieged Muslim town of Maglaj. Colombian drug leader surrenders BOGOTA, Colombia _ A leader of the world's biggest cocaine trafficking gang surrendered Saturday after months of negotiations between his lawyers and authorities. The surrender of Cali cartel leader Julio Fabio Urdinola came 100 days after authorities killed Pablo Escobar, the boss of the rival Medellin cartel. But the government used different strategies in netting the two: a military operation against Escobar and talks and offers of leniency for the Cali leaders. Urdinola, 27, is wanted for trafficking. Under a penal code enacted late last year, traffickers who surrender, disclose their operations and turn their illicit gains over to the state can win leniency. PLO sets terms for return to talks TUNIS, Tunisia _ The PLO said Saturday it would resume talks with Israel once the United States and Russia back up a U.N. resolution denouncing the Hebron massacre with concrete steps to ensure the security of Palestinians in the occupied lands. The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on the resolution Monday. A draft calls for measures to "guarantee the safety and protection of the Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied territory, including . . . a temporary international or foreign presence." PLO executive committee member Mahmoud Abbas said peace talks with Israel could be resumed "once the resolution is adopted and the co-sponsors pledge to guarantee Palestinians' security." Top general visits troops in Somalia MOGADISHU, Somalia _ America's top general came here Saturday to stand by his departing troops and to portray the violence-marred U.S. mission to Somalia as an "extraordinarily noble exercise" that saved thousands from starvation and chaos. Army Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is meeting U.S. and U.N. commanders in this still-chaotic city to ensure that the withdrawal of U.S. forces over the next two weeks is orderly and safe. President Clinton set a March 31 deadline for ending U.S. participation in the peacekeeping mission. Before returning to Washington today, Shalikashvili will fly out to the eight-ship Marine amphibious task force standing guard near the port during the departure operation. "I personally feel very good about what the United States forces were able to accomplish in Somalia. But I measure it by the lives we saved and by the opportunity we have given the Somalis" to rebuild their nation, the general said. Islamic militants escape from prison RABAT, Morocco _ Security forces scoured the mountains of eastern Algeria on Saturday for some 900 Islamic militants freed from a fortress prison by allied gunmen. Authorities killed five men and arrested 39. The official news agency APS, monitored in Paris, said "a large number of armed groups" attacked Tazoult prison overnight Thursday and exchanged heavy fire with prison staff. "A large number of people condemned for terrorism and assassination, sabotage and subversion escaped," it said. The escapees included 280 prisoners who were on death row. Earlier, APS quoting Liberte daily newspaper spoke of "a spectacular operation by terrorist groups" against the prison, 217 miles east of Algiers. Algeria has been torn by violence since authorities canceled the country's first multiparty general election in January 1992 after it became clear the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front was going to win.