Pressure mounts on divided Bosnia to agree key reforms

EUROPEAN AND US officials threw down the gauntlet to the leaders of ethnically divided Bosnia yesterday, telling them to agree on crucial reforms or risk jeopardising future EU and Nato accession.

Bosnia has fallen behind its ex-Yugoslav neighbours in the push for greater integration with the West, due to chronic disagreement between the nationalist parties that run its constituent parts, a Muslim-Croat Federation and a Serb-run region called Republika Srpska.

While the Muslims and Croats broadly support EU and US plans to break down ethnic boundaries by strengthening Bosnia’s central institutions, the Serbs have blocked such reforms over fears that they will irrevocably weaken Republika Srpska.

The near paralysis of the federal government, the suspicion and hostility between ethnic groups and a sharpening of nationalist rhetoric as next year’s elections come into view have prompted warnings that Bosnia could even return to violence unless the deadlock is broken.

“We want Bosnia to go forward, but it requires decisions from the Bosnian political leaders. We are not going to hold the region hostage to Bosnia,” said Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister who co-hosted the talks with US deputy secretary of state James Steinberg and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.

Mr Steinberg said the talks at a base used by EU troops outside Sarajevo allowed all sides to “understand each other’s positions” and to spell out what was expected of Bosnia’s leaders ahead of another meeting scheduled for October 20th.

“We hope to be able to achieve a real significant agreement at that time,” he said.

Seven Bosnian leaders, including Bosnian Serb prime minister Milorad Dodik and Muslim officials Haris Silajdzic and Sulejman Tihic, took part in talks which lasted almost five hours.

In an open letter published before the talks, Mr Bildt and Mr Steinberg said they planned to discuss “constitutional changes to achieve functionality and efficiency in government structures” and “completion for the closure of the Office of the High Representative (OHR)”.

The high representative is the senior international figure in Bosnia, and has the power to impose laws and sack obstructive local officials. His office, like the cumbersome political structure of Bosnia, was created by the Dayton Accords that ended Bosnia’s 1992-5 war.

The OHR’s powers have been used most often against Serbs, and they want the post abolished. But many Muslims and Croats, and some analysts, warn that Bosnia could spiral towards violence if the OHR is wound down before Bosnia is truly stable.

“We were promised that if we agree Bosnia could apply by the end of the year for EU candidate status and be an approved visa-free regime starting on July 1st next year,” said Mr Tihic.

Mr Dodik added: “They said that we must speed up the pace towards the EU and they expect us to reach an agreement . . . The details remain to be discussed but we believe that the constitution should not be changed.”