SPIEGEL ONLINE - January 30, 2007, 03:23 PM URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,463163,00.html INTERVIEW WITH OUTGOING HIGH REPRESENTATIVE TO BOSNIA US Was Getting 'Increasingly Impatient'
Christian Schwarz-Schilling, 76, has been the international community's High Representative in Bosnia since 2006. His task was to supervise the country's transition to democracy. Last week he surprised everyone by announcing he will resign on June 30. SPIEGEL spoke to him about his decision. SPIEGEL: Why are you resigning? Schwarz-Schilling: It was and continues to be my principle to give Bosnian politicians greater personal responsibility. That's why I was strongly criticized by some politicians in Bosnia, but also within the international community, and why I was constantly called on to intervene more extensively. SPIEGEL: You even have the right to sack politicians. Why did you refrain from using this right? Schwarz-Schilling: That's a right for emergency situations. Of course I'm aware that so far it's only been possible to push through important decisions in this country by threatening to take corresponding measures. But that was usually sufficient. SPIEGEL: Was it the governments in Washington and London that demanded you take tougher action? Schwarz-Schilling: The United States was the main factor, they have become increasingly concerned and impatient about the situation in Kosovo and the logjam in Bosnian institutions. SPIEGEL: The mission in Bosnia ends officially on June 30, 2007. Will it be extended? Schwarz-Schilling: Yes, that's what it looks like at the moment. It's the majority will of the international community. Washington was originally opposed and wanted to enable reforms by the end of June through a policy of stronger intervention. Now the United States seems in favor of my strategy of extending the mission while preserving the international special powers. SPIEGEL: Can you understand the impatience in the West given that Bosnia's politicians still show no desire for unity 11 years after the end of the war while billions in international financial aid seep away without having any effect? Schwarz-Schilling: That's an excuse used by the international community, which prefers to spend ist money on military measures rather than on peaceful post-war policy. But reconciliation among the former enemies is also being made more difficult by the negative influence of some neighboring countries from outside. SPIEGEL: You're thinking mainly of Belgrade? Schwarz-Schilling: Of course. When the decision on the future status of Kosovo is taken during the coming weeks, we will see how Serbian party leaders -- but also the leaders of the Serbian-dominated Republika Srpska -- react. © SPIEGEL ONLINE 2007 All Rights Reserved Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
