International envoy proposes extension of office in Bosnia

The international community should have its office continue operating in Bosnia-Herzegovina after June 30 and keep its extensive powers to adapt the political situation in Bosnia and the region, Bosnia's top international official said Tuesday.

The international community's High Representative to Bosnia- Herzegovina, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, said his proposal would be discussed at the end of February when major powers decide whether to close the Office of the High Representative (OHR).

Speaking to reporters in Sarajevo before a visit to Rome, where he is to meet Italian government officials, Schwarz-Schilling said he had no intention of asking for an extension of his term after June 30.

The international community, which has safeguarded peace in Bosnia since 1995, has been planning to close the OHR in Sarajevo at the end of June this year to make way for the Office of the European Union Special Representative (EUSR) with restricted powers.

Schwarz-Schilling believed that would be wrong and has been presenting his arguments in European capitals for several weeks.

"I am confident that my arguments will prevail," said Schwarz- Schilling, a senior German diplomat who was appointed as head of the OHR in January last year.

The OHR has sweeping powers in Bosnia, and has sacked local officials whose behaviors it judged to have breached the Dayton accord. Unlike his four predecessors, Schwarz-Schilling has not used his prerogatives to fire anyone so far.

According to the Dayton peace agreement that ended the 1992- 1995 war, Bosnia-Herzegovina was divided into a Muslim-Croat federation and Serb entity Republika Srpska (RS), each with most of the powers of a state. But the international community has been gradually stripping entities of their powers to strengthen those of the central government.

Bosnian Muslims have been calling for the abolition of the two entities, but Bosnian Serbs have threatened to hold a referendum on independence of the RS.

Supported by nationalists in neighboring Serbia, Bosnian Serbs also linked the future status of the Serbian province of Kosovo to the status of the RS. Bosnia's Serbs have said if Kosovo is granted independence, the RS should be granted the same status.