Saturday, October 23, 1999
Bosnians to meet in Dayton
Talks part of peace accord anniversary
BY JAMES HANNAH
The Associated Press
DAYTON, Ohio — The fourth anniversary of the Bosnian peace agreement, reached in this Ohio city, will offer another opportunity to end the divisiveness that has persisted despite the war's end, an official said Friday.
Next month's commemoration here will include two days of private discussions among Bosnians of all three major ethnic groups to try to move the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords forward.
Those scheduled to attend include Alija Izetbegovic, the Muslim member of the three-person presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina who took part in the Dayton peace talks.
Others coming for the Nov. 12-13 events include the Bosnian ambassador to the United Nations, Muham med Sacirbey; and Haris Silajdzic, one of the three Bosnian prime ministers. Also attending will be delegations of Serbians and Croatians, the other two major ethnic groups.
Organizer Bruce Hitchner, director of the University of Dayton's Center of International Programs, said the talks “are going to be, I think, the most important to date in Dayton in terms of substance.”
“The State Department is calling it a working event,” said Mr. Hitchner, adding that U.S. diplomats and other officials are also expected to attend.
In 1995, U.S. mediators brought Muslim, Serb and Croatian negotiators to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton to push for an end to a three-year war in the former Yugoslavia. Three weeks of negotiations among the warring factions ended with an agreement on Nov. 21, 1995, that stopped the fighting but produced a country that is virtually partitioned among the three ethnic groups.
“We're really talking about how we can improve the implementation process,” said Mr. Hitchner.
He said he expects the delegates to talk about how to reduce the presence of international peacekeepers in Bosnia without posing a threat to security. Another topic will likely be how to better protect refugees as they return to their homes, he said.
The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia, which numbers 31,000 soldiers from 40 countries, is scheduled to be reduced next year by one-third.
“What we have to do in Dayton is say, "Where do we go from here?'” said Mr. Hitchner.
He said that while those attending the Dayton events talk with each other regularly in their homeland, coming to where the peace accords were reached could spur progress. Politics would stifle talks if they were held in Washington, he said, and day-to-day events would stifle them in Sarajevo.
Mr. Hitchner said it is also the last chance for talks before the U.S. and Bosnian elections next year.
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