Bosnia and surrounding region still heading for crisis, says top official

International community's high representative calls for diplomatic engagement from US and Europe

The top international official in Bosnia has said that the Serb separatist threat to re-establish their own army had receded for now, but the country and surrounding region were still heading for crisis without substantial diplomatic engagement from the US and Europe.

Christian Schmidt, a German former minister serving as the international community's high representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, said the Serb separatist leader, Milorad Dodik, had been persuaded by regional leaders to suspend his plans to pull Serb soldiers out of the Bosnian national army and reconstitute a Bosnian Serb force.