SARAJEVO, June 4 - The international body responsible for supervising the implementation of the Dayton peace accords did not reach agreement on a new High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday, leaving the post vacant after the sudden departure of Germany's Christian Schmidt.
Schmidt, who stepped down in May from the Office of the High Representative and has said his exit was prompted by U.S. pressure, said the Steering Board's deliberations will continue. In a video message, delivered in his role as chairman of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council, Schmidt said:
"These consultations will continue,"
He added that "all participants look forward to the selection of a consensus candidate in the coming days with a view to transition by end of June." The Steering Board is the informal body responsible for nominating the High Representative, the international official tasked with monitoring implementation of the U.S.-brokered Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia in 1995.
The Steering Board is composed of representatives from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States and the European Union. The statement also notes that Russia has suspended its participation in the body.
In recent days the U.S. State Department has signalled a preference for a narrower mandate for the next High Representative, saying that the "U.S.-led nation-building era has passed" and indicating its support for a candidate with a more limited role. Washington backed Italian diplomat Antonio Zanardi Landi for the position. "The pre-existing high rep has resigned, and so there’s a new candidate that we will be supporting, he’s an Italian gentleman that we think would do a good job of helping provide some stability to that position," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the congress on Wednesday.
Reports indicated that Landi arrived in Sarajevo on Thursday to take part in the Steering Board meeting, but delegates did not reach a consensus on his nomination at that session. With no agreement, the process of consultations will continue among the participating members.
Many diplomats and analysts represented at the meeting argued that the Office of the High Representative should remain in place while Serb and Croat separatists continue to block the functioning of the state. They warned that those actions threaten Bosnia's integrity and economic prosperity, reinforcing the perceived need for an international guarantor of the Dayton arrangements.
For now, the selection remains unsettled and the Steering Board has signalled it will keep working toward a consensus candidate with the stated aim of completing a transition by the end of June.