US Threatens to Reconsider Bosnia Role as Europe Blocks Its High Representative Pick
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 6
US Threatens to Reconsider Bosnia Role as Europe Blocks Its High Representative Pick
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 6
Summary
Washington said it may reconsider its role in Bosnia’s international presence after the Peace Implementation Council failed this week to agree on a new High Representative in Sarajevo.
European states including the UK, France and Germany rejected the US-backed candidate, Italian diplomat Antonio Zanardi Landi, and instead supported French envoy René Troccaz, exposing a sharper transatlantic split over Bosnia policy.
The Trump administration also pushed to curb the High Representative’s enforcement powers under the 1995 Dayton accord, which ended a war that killed about 100,000 people but left Bosnia deeply divided.
US leverage is mostly political rather than military — Bosnia hosts only a small EU peacekeeping force — and the PIC is expected to try again later this month, possibly with compromise candidates.
The clash comes amid European suspicion of Washington’s motives after it dropped sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and pressed outgoing envoy Christian Schmidt after his punitive moves against Dodik.