Envoy warns Bosnia peace deal could unravel

A peace envoy warned that the U.S.-sponsored peace deal that ended the Bosnian war could unravel at the hands of Serb separatists without increased international intervention, Reuters reported. 

In his first report to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, German politician Christian Schmidt wrote that the international community must take measures to stop Serb separatists from undermining the 26-year-old peace treaty. 

The fifteen-member council met this week to discuss Bosnia and reauthorize the European Union-led peacekeeping force EUFOR, according to Reuters. 

Schmidt’s report homes in on efforts by Bosnian Serb separatists to undo key institutions such as the joint armed forces, the indirect taxation authority, and the top judicial body, Reuters reported. 

“The prospects for further division and conflict are very real,” Schmidt wrote.

Schmidt added that EUFOR is vital for future stability for the country, warning that Serbs can pull out from the joint armed forces agreement and create their own mission. 

The Dayton peace agreement, signed in 1995, ended the three and half year war between Bosnian Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks, spliting the country along ethnic lines into two autonomous regions. 

The two regions, the Serb Republic and the Federation have been linked through a central government that has grown over the years to help make Bosnia a functional state, Reuters noted.