Tuesday, 22 November 2005Bosnian leaders are in the US to mark the 10th anniversary of the US-brokered Dayton peace accords, which ended the bloody inter-ethnic Bosnian war.
They are also scheduled to discuss reforms to the country's constitution.
About 250,000 people were killed and two million were made homeless by the three-and-a-half-year conflict.
No official ceremonies to commemorate the peace accords, signed in Dayton, Ohio, were due to be held in the former Yugoslav republic.
The deal, reached by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia after three weeks of talks, was signed later in Paris and formally ended the war that began in 1992.
Successful outcome
The leaders of Bosnia's various political factions are expected to continue discussions initiated earlier this month in Brussels about reforms designed to centralise the country's administration, which was split into two by the Dayton accords.
Bosnia-Hercegovina is divided into two mini-states with broad autonomy, a shared parliament and government, and a three-man presidency.
Among those involved in the latest negotiations in Washington is Richard Holbrooke, a former US ambassador to the UN and the man credited with brokering the deal.
He told the BBC on Monday that the agreement had flaws but that it had achieved its aims.
"If you go back 10 years, everyone predicted this wouldn't work," he told The World Today.
"Ten years later this war is over forever... This thing worked. It is probably the most successful peace agreement in the last quarter century anywhere in the world, and everyone associated with it feels proud of that," he said.
However, he said the biggest failure of the subsequent peace process was the failure to arrest the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, who is wanted on charges of war crimes.
Also on Monday, the European Union agreed to open talks to prepare Bosnia-Hercegovina for full membership.
It is hoped that constitutional reform will ease Bosnia-Hercegovina's bid for membership.
BBC News
November 21, 2005 |
Tuesday, 22 November 2005
BBC News
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