Username: Password: Remember:


Latest Blog

Dancing Alexander-style, Down Under

15 March 2010 | By Sinisa-Jakov Marusic

Sinisa-Jakov Marusic The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.


British Ambassador to Serbia Urges Cooperation
16 March 2010 | Bojana Barlovac

British Ambassador to Serbia Stephen Wordsworth said that Serbia is not being asked to recognise Kosovo's independence, but argued that Belgrade must establish a model of cooperation with Pristina.

EU Enlargement Commissioner to Visit Western Balkans
16 March 2010 | Bojana Barlovac

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele is set to begin his first Western Balkans tour on Wednesday, with scheduled stops in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo.

Koricanske stijene: Destroyed Life
16 March 2010 |

After accepting a guilt admission agreement, the Trial Chamber has scheduled sentencing of Ljubisa Cetic, who is charged with shooting civilians at Koricanske stijene, for March 11.



Powers Gather to Discuss Bosnia Engagement

Sarajevo | 18 November 2009 |
 
OHR
OHR
Representatives of the world’s leading powers are meeting in Sarajevo today to discuss the future of international engagement in Bosnia amid one of the country’s worst and the most prolonged political crisis since the end of its 1992-95 war.

The two-day meeting of the Peace Implementation Council, PIC, - a group of 55 countries and international organisations that sponsor and direct the peace implementation process in Bosnia – follows weeks of intense diplomatic efforts to persuade the local leaders to accept a reform proposal put forward by the EU and US.

 The PIC is expected to discuss the fate of the powerful international envoy’s office in Bosnia, but a decision on its closure appears to be highly unlikely given the seemingly irreconcilable views between Bosnia's Croat, Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Serb ethnic communities.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Tuesday in Brussels that the PIC is unlikely to decide to close the Office of the High Representative, OHR, and described the Balkan country as a “political risk”, local media reported.

Bosnian Serbs have recently also stepped up their opposition to the OHR’s continued presence in Bosnia accusing the top international envoy, currently Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko, of abusing his powers.

The OHR, which was created under the 1995 Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia, has wide powers to make and shape the country’s laws and to remove obstructive officials.

Under the agreement, Bosnia was split into two highly independent parts – the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska and Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) federation, each with its own government, parliament and president. The two are linked by week central institutions whose strengthening continues to be obstructed by Bosnian Serbs.

Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik reiterated his views ahead of the PIC meeting, where representatives will also hear addresses by the country's ethnic leaders.

"The OHR is a cheerleading group led by the High Representative which fulfills the wishes of Bosniak leaders," Dodik told journalists on Tuesday adding that the PIC has “lost all legitimacy".

Dodik said that his government has informed the UN Security Council of its objections, including that the OHR and its “illegitimate“ activities are holding Bosnia back from making any progress.

However, the Serb’s position is in sharp contrast with that of Bosnia’s Muslim and Croat communities who want the OHR to stay until an agreement is reached on how to revamp Bosnia’s constitution and make the country more functional.

Over the past week, representatives of the three communities have been engaged in intense negotiations with Western technical experts who hope to win their acceptance of a reform package proposed in October by the EU and US.

Local leaders rejected the package after a series of meetings with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg in Sarajevo in October, with Serbs describing it as too demanding and Bosniaks and Croats as insufficient.

However, the West hopes that the local leaders could be persuaded to reverse their positions through ongoing negotiations at the level of technical experts.

“Despite having to deal with such urgent international issues like Iraq, Afghanistan, and the global economic crisis...we, and our European colleagues, have thrown ourselves entirely into this current reform process,“ US ambassador to Bosnia Charles English said on Tuesday.

However, English warned that the high-level international attention could not be sustained over the long haul.

“We therefore believe that now is the time for Bosnia and Herzegovina to seize the opportunity to make progress towards a European and Euro-Atlantic future… but our vision is slowly being dimmed by the growing possibility that our proposal will not be accepted," he said.  

In its report ahead of the PIC meeting, the International Crisis Group think-tank warned the international community that they should not be delaying decisions on a new kind of engagement in Bosnia.

“This is a sensitive and potentially dangerous moment, and much could go wrong," ICG said in its report.

“If the PIC continues the OHR’s mandate past the early months of 2010 but does not substantially reinforce it, Bosnia will be faced with a confrontation between Republika Srpska and the OHR from which no one will emerge undamaged," it added.

The OHR was due to be phased out in 2007 and replaced with the office of the European Union Special Representatives who would not have executive powers.

However, its mandate was extended because of political instability and the failure of Bosnian politicians to agree on necessary reforms.

ICG warned that abandoning Bosnia would be a costly mistake. However, they said that the preferable solution for Bosnia was to announce that the transition to a reinforced EUSR will start on 1 January 2010.

During the transition, the High Representative should work with Bosnian leaders to resolve remaining objectives identified by the PIC, if necessary using his executive powers.



Main News Page

Comments:
No comments have been posted.
Please read Terms and Conditions first
 

Your name:

Subject:

Comment:

Type in this code (used to prevent spam):

 
 

Living together. For some those two words are like the green or red wire on a bomb; choose the wrong one, and there’s going to be an explosion.


More Croatians are planning not to go on summer holidays this year because of the financial crisis, according to the results of market research conducted by GfK in February.


The newest Bulgarian shopping mall, “Serdika Center”, was formally opened in Sofia Tuesday.



Trencherman needed the benefit of his significant girth on a trip to this famous Belgrade haunt.


A powerful new novel follows the fortunes of five Bosnians, trying and not always succeeding, to find their way home.


Lebanon is a film about a group of young Israeli soldiers who were part of the force that invaded the Lebanon in 1982. Along with ‘Waltz with Bashir’,the acclaimed 2008 bio-pic, this is another significant film which examines the controversial military conflict. Samuel Maoz, the director, re-lives his military days, through this small masterpiece of frantic, claustrophobia and humanity.