Bosnia looks ahead

Only 10% of refugees have returned to their homes

By Alix Kroeger in Tuzla, northern Bosnia

Political leaders from Bosnia and the international community are gathering in the American city of Dayton for a conference to mark the fifth anniversary of the peace accord which ended the Bosnian war.

Among those attending the meeting at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base will be the leaders of several Bosnian political parties who are still awaiting the final results of last Saturday's elections.

Significant parts of the accord still need to be implemented

They will be assessing progress so far and looking at which sections of the accords still need to be implemented.

Significant parts of the accord remain unimplemented: only about 10% of refugees have returned to their pre-war homes, the most notorious war criminals remain at large and the central government functions only intermittently.

Nationalist presence

Dayton is more than a peace accord.

It is also Bosnia's constitution and sets out the framework for the parliamentary elections which took place on Saturday.

The final results still are not known, but it is already clear the nationalist parties who dominated Bosnia during the war still retain a sizeable following.

Among those attending the conference will be the leader of the moderate Muslim nationalist party for Bosnia-Hercegovina, Haris Silajdzic.

Mr Silajdzic, who was Bosnian prime minister at the time Dayton was signed, is poised to hold the balance of power in Bosnia's new parliament.

Some international officials have expressed hopes he will form a coalition to keep the hardline nationalists from power, joining forces with the leader of the multi-ethnic Social Democrats, Zlatko Lagumdzija, who willl also be in Dayton for the anniversary.