BOSNIA: "First justice. Then jobs, through reform," Mr Paddy Ashdown said in a speech to Bosnia's central parliament in Sarajevo yesterday.The former leader of Britain's Liberal Democrats has been given the task of completing the transformation of the war-shattered Balkan republic into a viable state.
"Bosnian justice works too often for the powerful and the politically connected, not for ordinary people," he warned.
"The grip of criminality and corruption is strengthening . . . that is why working with you to establish the rule of law will be my first and my top priority."
Appointed European Union High Representative, Mr Ashdown faces the complex and expensive task of completing the transformation of Bosnia into a viable state.
He will have final responsibility for implementing the terms of the Dayton peace accord signed by Bosnia's warring factions in 1995 after 3½ years of war.
He will oversee implementation of the civil aspects of the accord and is empowered to impose law and remove elected officials deemed to be obstructive.
Mr Ashdown will also have to deal with the war crimes suspects still at large in the country, including the Bosnian Serb wartime leader, Dr Radovan Karadzic.
"It is time to take on the high-level criminals - the war profiteers who have now turned to smuggling weapons, fuel, drugs and even people," he said yesterday.
"And it is time to confront their friends and accomplices in positions of power."
Mr Ashdown stressed the importance of creating jobs in a country with an unemployment rate estimated at 40 per cent, and of attracting foreign investment to compensate for foreign aid which was "going to fall year after year".
"The only reason why the economy of this country is failing is because we have refused to reform the system that dooms it to failure," he said.
Mr Ashdown, who visited the country several times during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s and attacked the West for not launching air strikes against the Serbs, also pledged to focus on stemming or reversing the stream of talented young Bosnians leaving the country.
"Our task will be tough. Success will not come easy. But it can be achieved if we have the courage to work together, and the determination to reform," he told deputies.
Mr Ashdown took over the post of top international envoy to Bosnia from Mr Wolfgang Petritsch of Austria.
The job had been held previously by Swedish diplomat Mr Carl Bildt and Spain's Mr Carlos Westendorp. His predecessor, during a three-year mandate, imposed hundreds of laws aimed at strengthening state institutions and restoring rule of law.
Mr Petritsch also sacked some 70 local officials for obstructing the peace accord.
Mr Ashdown said he would use such powers "from time to time", but regarded them acceptable only if they are used on behalf of Bosnian people as a whole.
Commenting on Mr Ashdown's inaugural address, the Bosnian Prime Minister, Mr Dragan Mikerevic, said "it was a cause for optimism".
The priorities listed by Mr Ashdown were the "priorities of the Council of Ministers", as Bosnian central government is called.
Mr Mikerevic said in a statement: "Such a balanced approach is the best guarantee for a faster conclusion of initiated reforms and Bosnia's access to European and Euro-Atlantic integrations."
Following his address to members of parliament, Mr Ashdown embarked on a tour across the country to gauge opinion.
He was scheduled to visit Banja Luka, capital of the Republika Srpska, the Serb-run entity in Bosnia that along with the Muslim-Croat Federation makes up post-war Bosnia.
He plans to meet Republika Srpska representatives before travelling on to Mostar in southern Bosnia, which remains divided between ethnic Croat and Muslims since fighting raged there for 11 months in 1993 and 1994.