Bosnian political leaders meet to surpass the crisis

Bosnia’s political leaders were to meet on Monday in a bid to resolve the most serious post-war crisis in the country that still has no government almost a year after general elections.

After several failed attempts to form a central government in the country divided along ethnic lines into two entities — the Serbs’ Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation — the heads of the six main political parties re-launched a dialogue earlier this month.

After their September 15 meeting, the leaders said they had “brought closer” their “principles” regarding key reforms that a central government must carry out for Bosnia to be allowed into the European Union.

Sarajevo aspires to file a request for European Union candidate status by the end of the year, but inter-ethnic disputes has prevented political leaders from agreeing on the creation of a new central government.

Since the end of its 1992-95 war, Bosnia has consisted of two entities each with their own government — the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serb-run Republika Srpska. They are linked by weak central institutions, including a central government tasked with implementing the EU-sought reforms.