A decade after a three-year war in Bosnia gave way to an ethnically divided government, all signs pointed yesterday to a constitutional overhaul that could erase divisions and set the stage for the Balkan country's entry into the EU.
The clincher was likely to be applied under the supervision of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was presiding over a lavish luncheon to celebrate the 1995 Dayton Accords, that were engineered by president Bill Clinton's administration and negotiated and signed at Dayton, Ohio.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, then the US spokesman and now the chief negotiator, foresaw late Monday an accord that would replace a three-presidents arrangement with a single president and potentially point the way to a strong prime minister and a strong parliament.
Burns said the idea is to have political party leaders work out details before elections next year.
Six months ago, while Burns was in the capital Sarajevo, a major step to reform occurred when a single defense ministry was formed out of two armies, two defense ministers and two chiefs of staff.
With leaders of the Bosnian, Serb and Croatian communities all in Washington for the anniversary celebration of the Dayton Accords, Burns said that having come all the way to Washington, he believed they would come together tomorrow on a statement.
"We're not there yet. We don't have an agreement yet," Burns said. "But I'm confident that they're heading in that direction."
Bosnia currently has a weak government. For example, it has 14 education departments. European leaders have warned that the situation must be revised before Bosnia can enter the EU.
In rare tribute by a Bush administration official to its predecessor, Burns praised the accords reached in Dayton, Ohio, "as a seminal moment in American diplomacy."
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