SARAJEVO, June 5 (AFP): US and European officials failed to agree by Thursday on a top international envoy for keeping the peace in Bosnia after two days of meetings, outgoing high representative Christian Schmidt confirmed.
Established as part of the 1995 peace deal that ended Bosnia's inter-ethnic war, the high representative oversees the civilian implementation of the accords and enjoys sweeping powers in the Balkan nation.
European countries, Russia and the United States 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 agreement.
German diplomat Schmidt, whose resignation from the post in May came as a surprise, said that the "consultations will continue" and hoped for "the selection of a consensus candidate in the coming days".
The United States meanwhile voiced frustration that its preferred candidate, Italian diplomat Antonio Zanardi Landi, failed to garner consensus, and threatened to walk away from the peacekeeping body.
A State Department spokesperson pointed to "European indecisiveness" as being behind the failed talks, and said the United States would "reconsider our role in the current international presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina."
Since the 1992-1995 war, Bosnia has remained split between its Serb and Bosniak-Croat entities, linked by weak central institutions.
During his time in post, Schmidt's use of the high representative's powers, which include the ability to impose laws or dismiss elected officials, drew him into conflict with Bosnian Serb leader and Moscow ally Milorad Dodik.
At the time of his resignation, Schmidt cited "huge and unexpected" pressure from Washington as among the reasons for his stepping down.
