US and European officials have failed again to name the new international envoy to Bosnia
A senior US diplomat has been appointed as Bosnia’s acting high representative charged with keeping peace until a permanent successor to Germany’s Christian Schmidt is chosen.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, is in Sarajevo as US and European officials failed for a second time this month to name the new international envoy tasked with overseeing the civilian aspects of a peace deal that ended Bosnia’s inter-ethnic war in the 1990s.
European countries, Russia and the US have disagreed in recent years over the power held by the high representative, who is appointed by the steering board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) tasked with overseeing the Dayton peace accords.
German diplomat Schmidt resigned in May in what he labelled a surprise departure citing “huge and unexpected” pressure from Washington.
