Biden seeks to bolster still divided Bosnia
Reuters | 05/19/2009 10:46 AM
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SARAJEVO – US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Bosnia on Tuesday hoping to bolster a country still plagued by instability and ethnic division 14 years after the end of Europe's worst conflict since World War Two.
The United States brokered the 1995 peace deal that ended the war that killed 100,000 people, but even under its central government the country remains divided between its two former adversaries, the Bosnian Serbs and the Muslim-Croat federation.
Many diplomats and experts consider Bosnia the least stable part of the Balkans whose troubles could potentially slow the region's common desire to integrate into the Europe Union.
US officials hope Biden's Bosnia visit, ahead of trips to Serbia and Kosovo, will show support for a country where economic and political woes have worsened in recent months.
"The fact that the vice president is going is evidence that we are looking to demonstrate intensified US engagement in the region, starting with Bosnia," a senior US government official, declining to be named, told reporters before the trip.
"The vice president is going to underscore to the leaders he meets with, from all sides, the need to work across ethnic lines to build consensus on reforms moving forward."
The international community retains ultimate power in Bosnia under an official who can overturn laws or fire officials seen as endangering the 1995 Dayton peace treaty.
Diplomats had hoped to relinquish these oversight powers several years ago, but have not done so amid concerns about growing Bosnian Serb assertiveness at a time of disorganization in the Muslim-Croat federation half of the country.
Last week, the Bosnian Serb parliament asked the envoy, Austrian Valentin Inzko, to renounce using his oversight powers. Earlier this month, Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik sparked diplomatic complaints by calling for Bosnian Serb troops not participate in a NATO exercise in Georgia.
Wartime support
As a US senator during the 1992-95 war, Biden supported arming Bosnian Muslims in their fight against Bosnian Serbs.
"Senator Biden always supported Bosnia-Herzegovina during the war and on its path to democratization and his visit here is another move, another way to show the engagement of this (US) administration," said Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj.
Biden's past stance fuels some suspicion among Bosnian Serbs who fret Washington might seek to lessen their autonomy.
"Such practice must stop and I am convinced Biden will understand we need to have a basic agreement about some issues to go on," Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said recently.
By contrast, some say US involvement is essential to prevent an ever more divided Bosnia.
"The EU is not capable of getting anything done on this. I'm unfortunately becoming more and more convinced of that," said one European diplomat, who asked not to be named.
During his talks on Tuesday, Biden will be accompanied by Inzko and European Union foreign policy envoy Javier Solana. Among those they will meet are Dodik and Haris Silajdzic, the Muslim member of Bosnia's three-person presidency.
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