Debate surrounds international community's role in Bosnia

"Schwarz-Schilling's approach has undermined all that has been achieved and is endangering any chance of success for the remaining reforms that are needed for the final departure of the international community," says Sarajevo-based political analyst Senad Slatina. "How can you turn control over to Bosnia-Herzegovina's politicians when ethnic-based politics, the politics that caused the war, have never been seriously confronted in this country?"

A 1995 peace treaty – the Dayton accords – ended Bosnia's four-year civil war, but left its underlying causes unresolved. Critics note that the settlement, which divided Bosnia into two ethnically based "entities" under a weak central government, has made it nearly impossible for the country to govern itself without the regular oversight and intervention of the High Representative and other foreign officials.

"Dayton gave us a system where a handful of people can block almost any decision or legislation and it is impossible to unblock it without the High Representative," says Jakob Finci, the head of Bosnia's civil service administration. "It's hard to believe this country could be operational without such an office."

Haris Silajdzic, the Bosniak member of the Bosnia's tripartite presidency, notes in a Monitor interview that the US Congress passed a resolution in 2005 stating that Bosnia's Serbs committed genocide against his people during the 1992-95 war.

"Yet the West prefers to talk about three 'warring factions' because it allows them to expend the least effort and assume the role of mediators," he says. Instead, Western powers should recognize that there were clear aggressors and victims in the war, he says, and should undo the results of ethnic cleansing and ethnic politics "even if it means breaking some political eggs."

For now, the international community is focused on making Bosnia eligible for first steps toward EU membership.

Given the tensions in the region, it's widely expected that the international community will keep the OHR open. What hasn't been decided, sources say, is what sort of powers to grant the next high representative – the interventionist ones that Schwartz-Schilling has eschewed or the limited ones he has practiced.

Regardless of their decisions, the road ahead will be a difficult one, as creating a functional national government will require the Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats to agree to substantive changes to the Dayton constitution.

"Obviously we can't agree on what kind of constitution and country we would like to have," says Mr. Finci. "We will definitely stay in this situation for the next few years because there is no clear picture of what would be acceptable to all three groups."

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