The crucial priorities facing postwar Bosnian leaders were rebuilding the economy, resettling the estimated one million refugees still displaced, and establishing a working government. Progress on these goals has been minimal, and a massive corruption scandal uncovered in 1999 severely tested the goodwill of the international community. Millions of dollars from international aid projects earmarked for reconstruction and humanitarian purposes had been pilfered by Bosnian officials, according to an American-led international antifraud unit. In Aug. 2000 U.N. officials reported that a record 25,000 refugees returned to their homes since the start of the year. The situation remains somewhat unstable, however, with ethnic attacks still being reported.
Land mines scattered through the country remain a threat and mass graves are occasionally uncovered.
In elections held in November 2000, the Serbian nationalist party, the Serb Democratic Party, won in the Serb controlled part of the country, defeating the pro-western party. The Croatian Democratic Union, a Croatian nationalist party, came in third. See also Bosnia and Herzegovina . Inc. All Rights Reserved.