Petritsch upbeat on Bosnia future

Bosnia's scars are well on their way to being healed

By the BBC's European Reporter Bill Hayton

The head of the international authorities in Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, has told the BBC there might be no need for outside administrators to manage the country in three to four years' time.

In a relatively optimistic assessment of the situation in the country, Mr Petritsch told the BBC the past few years had seen definite progress.

You can see from Afghanistan that structurally there are similar problems - the absence of state institions

Wolfgang Petritsch

He said three population groups - Muslims, Serbs and Croats - were showing increasing willingness to compromise.

He indicated that if the trend continued, the international community's role in Bosnia could end in time for the 10th anniversary of the Dayton peace agreement.

"Right now I am preparing this kind of perspective of three or four years," he said.

He said the international community's role should move "from mentoring to monitoring".

Petritsch says work must continue on Bosnia's framework

Mr Petritsch said his successor, the UK's Lord Ashdown, who takes over the job later this year, should continue to focus on the establishment of a "rugged institutional framework".

"Rule of law, democracy, establishment of professional judiciary, police, the public administration - these are the pillars of any country and particularly now in Bosnia-Hercegovina," he said.

"You can see from Afghanistan that structurally there are similar problems - the absence of state institions."

Mr Petritsch said the country was close to an "irreversible" strengthening of its frameworks.

But he added: "We are still not fully there yet, so this is what my successor will have to forcefully continue."