US VICE president Joe Biden yesterday warned Bosnia could again descend into violence unless its leadership takes steps to heal the ethnic divide.
Mr Biden arrived early yesterday hoping to bolster a country still plagued by instability and ethnic division 14 years after the end of Europe's worst conflict since the Second World War.
"Today, to be very blunt with you, I personally, and the l
eadership of my country is worried … about the direction of your country and your future," Mr Biden said in an address to the country's parliament.
The US brokered the 1995 peace deal that ended the war that killed 100,000 people, but the country remains divided between its two former adversaries, the Bosnian Serbs and the Muslim-Croat federation. "With all due respect, and forgive me for saying this in your parliament, but this must stop," Mr Biden said of the divide.
Many diplomats and experts consider Bosnia the least stable part of the Balkans whose troubles could potentially slow the region's common desire to integrate into the Europe Union.
"The only real future is to join Europe," Mr Biden said. "Right now you are off that path … You can follow this path to Europe or you can take an alternative path. You have done it before," he said, referring to the 1992-95 war.
"Failure to do so will ensure you remain among the poorest countries in Europe. At worst, you'll descend into ethnic chaos that defined your country for the better part of a decade."
Some analysts say Mr Biden's visit was prompted by a lack of consensus in the European Union to deal decisively with nationalists holding up Bosnian progress.
