Bosnia’s UN representative Christian Schmidt is to resign

The High Representative of the International Community in Bosnia-Herzegovina Christian Schmidt will resign from office, according to a newspaper report. The Sarajevo-based daily newspaper “Oslobodjenje” reported late on Sunday evening, citing insiders, that the former German minister was resigning for personal reasons. The Office of the High Representative (OHR) could not immediately be reached for comment over the weekend.

Schmidt is currently in New York, where he is supposed to present his report on the EU candidate country to the United Nations (UN), the report said. The CSU politician has held the office of special envoy for almost five years; his predecessor was the Austrian Valentin Inzko. The High Representative of the international community is responsible for implementing the Dayton Agreement, which ended the Bosnian War three decades ago, and serves as the ultimate interpreter of the Bosnian constitution. During his time in office, Schmidt frequently clashed with the Bosnian Serbs. They did not recognize his appointment because it had not been approved by the UN Security Council.

The US-brokered Dayton Peace Agreement ended the three-and-a-half year war in 1995. It divided the Balkan state into the Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, linked by a weak central government.

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