The Office of the international community's High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina should continue operating because of the present political crisis in the country, Deputy High Representative Roderick Moore said in a newspaper interview published on Monday.
We'll see what happens, whether we will go for strengthening the OHR or finding some other instruments. The Bonn powers remain and I hope we won't be using them any time soon, but I don't rule out that possibility, the US diplomat told the Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz daily.
The so-called Bonn powers give the High Representative an executive mandate if he deems that the peace implementation process and the security and political stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina are threatened. These powers have not been exercised for years, the exception being the decision by High Representative Valentin Inzko in 2011 to suspend the decision of the Central Electoral Commission that invalidated the formation of a new government in the country's Bosniak-Croat entity.
Echoing the sentiment of the international community, Moore said that the Bonn powers should be used only as a last resort, after all other mechanisms had failed. He said that there was a growing disappointment in the international community with the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and expressed hope that Bosnian politicians would continue dialogue and the reform process, otherwise there would be consequences.
