RICHARD HOLBROOKE TO VISIT BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (April 11,2008) – Former senior US diplomat, Richard Holbrooke will be visiting Bosnia later this week, to film a documentary with the US Cable News Network, CNN, as well as boost Bosnia’s constitutional reforms, according to Bosnian daily Dnevni Avaz.

In the past two decades, Holbrooke has served as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany and the United Nations, and is considered to one of the principal architects of the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia.

He is also believed to be one of the favourites to be the new U.S. Secretary of State if a Democrat candidate wins the 2008 Presidential elections.

Dnevni Avaz said that during his visit to Bosnia, Holbrooke will meet Bosnian and international officials, and especially focus on constitutional reforms.

Bosnia’s administrative setup created by the Dayton Treaty is considered to be too complicated, ineffective and expensive. In 2005 local leaders – under strong international and U.S. support – started negotiating possible constitutional changes, but those talks failed in April 2006.

Despite the failure, most Bosnian and international officials agree that Bosnia needs to start upgrading its constitution if it wants to become a European Union member.
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