Bosnian leaders reach agreement on constitution change

Leaders of Bosnia’s three major ethnic groups have reached an accord designed to unify the Balkan country by remaking the government’s constitutional structure, a senior US official said today.

A decade after a bloody three-year war gave way to an ethnically divided government, an agreement to overhaul the constitutional structure was signed last night after three days of negotiations overseen by US diplomats, said the official.

The official declined to be identified because an announcement was expected later by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

A statement signed by representatives of the Croats, Serbs and Muslim political groups commits the parties to work out the details by March 2006, the official said.

The agreement was in line with a framework proposed last month by Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns during a trip to the region.

Rice was presiding over a lavish luncheon with the presidents later today to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the war modernises the decade-old accord.

The agreement would replace a three-presidents arrangement with a single president and point the way to a strong prime minister and a strong parliament.

Burns said yesterday the idea was to have political party leaders work out the details before elections next year.

Six months ago, while Burns was in the capital Sarajevo, a major step to reform was taken when a single defence ministry was formed out of two armies, two defence ministers and two chiefs of staff.

The agreement commits all sides to eliminate redundant offices and to clean up inefficiencies, necessary steps toward including Bosnia eventually in the European Union, which could enhance the country’s economic fortunes.

For Rice, the accord marks her second diplomatic triumph in a week. Last week in Jerusalem, she applied the finishing touches to an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that opens Gaza borders and eases movement by Palestinians.