Rival Bosnian Serb leaders unable to heal rift in talks

Talks between the president of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Biljana Plavsic, and the Bosnian Serb member of the Bosnia-Hercegovina Presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik, hit a standstill on Friday, the Belgrade-based independent Radio B92 reported.

The meeting, held in Brcko, was convened to resolve the outstanding issue of distributing key posts in the Bosnian Serb assembly and government.

Plavsic told reporters that three proposals on posts in the assembly had been discussed, but that the talks would have to continue in Brcko on 9th January.

Last Sunday a session of the Bosnian Serb assembly ended in disarray after the two rival Serb factions failed to agree on the formation of a new government and who should head it.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.