A multiethnic Bosnia is therefore not an illusion designed by ambitious do-gooders. It is the answer to the war. Rebuilding a war-torn country and ending a war are about more than peace secured by troops. It means establishing functioning political institutions, it means economic reform, it mens civil peace. We have come a long way down this road.
Refugees return to areas that saw the worst atrocities in the war.
They claim their property and recover it. So the real project for Bosnia is to integrate, not to separate. The concept of ethnic exclusiveness would lead straight to an atomizing of the Balkans, ripping away any political or economic stability. The writer is the high representative of the international community for Bosnia-Herzegovina. He contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune .