Remaking Bosnia

last updated 8 January 2015

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

After considerable U.S. prodding, Bosnian leaders have agreed to rewrite their constitution to produce a more unified country. Under the U.S.-brokered Dayton Accord, which ended a bloody civil war 10 years ago this week, Bosnia was divided into a Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat Federation, and the office of the presidency was shared by a Serb, a Muslim, and a Croat. Leaders from all three groups now agree that there should be one president and a stronger parliament. Details will be worked out next year. The U.S. said it was time for Bosnia to become a normal country. The Dayton accords “served Bosnia well over the last decade,” said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, “but they were never meant to be immutable or set in stone.”