By Sead Numanović
Principal Deputy High Representative in BiH, American diplomat Roderick Moore disagrees with assessment of many analysts that the OHR is at its deathbed and that it survives only on life-support.
– This office has the same capacity and the same legal basis for its mandate. The Security Council reiterated, at its last session, its support to the OHR and the use of Bonn powers.
– But, let’s be frank. The OHR does not operate in isolation from other international structures. The High Representative reports to the Security Council; Peace Implementation Council (PIC) gives us guidelines for our operations; our budget comes from PIC members, so we do not work in isolation.
– We are in 2013 and we work and operate in the environment where countries progress towards the EU, reforms are being implemented. The OHR does not need to make decisions on behalf of local politicians now, as it used to do, said Moore in his interview to our newspaper.
Dnevni Avaz: You are speaking about ownership. It is a policy that has been advocated for seven years already and we are here at this situation. Are you considering a change of strategy? After all, you also share responsibility for the situation in BiH.
Roderick Moore: This is a conscientious policy of the international community that is, sometimes, not so well understood here. However, there is a growing disappointment among the international community about the situation in BiH. The PIC session of last week was held in the light of some important events. A historic agreement between Serbia and Kosovo has been made. In whichever way you look at it here, those were some very difficult and painful decisions.
Almost simultaneously, BiH leaders have refused to make some not so difficult but very important decisions. In spite of extraordinary efforts on the part of the international community, there has been no agreement on the Sejdić-Finci verdict. We can assist, we are assisting, but we cannot force politicians to do their job.
Dnevni Avaz: Still, you said yourself that there is a growing disappointment in the PIC. Will you change something in your approach to BiH?
Roderick Moore: I believe that all mechanisms available to the international community will be considered more frequently. I am not speaking only about the Bonn powers and the OHR but about other mechanisms too. However, I believe we will continue to assist and encourage local politicians to make agreements and try to see that the reforms are implemented. If it does not happen, there will be consequences.
Dnevni Avaz: Are there going to be some concrete actions?
Roderick Moore: It is the fact that we are here and that we will stay here. There were no discussions about the closure of the OHR at the PIC session. We will see what is going to happen next. Whether we decide to opt for the strengthening of the OHR or seek different instruments, the Bonn powers will remain. I hope we will not use them any time soon but I do not exclude the possibility of using them.
Some 99% of the decisions in this country are being made without OHR seeing them until they get published – from the municipal to the State level. Even the Federation Government made such decisions.
There is a position that you cannot always flaunt the Bonn powers to improve the accountability of local politicians. It gives them an alibi. In this moment the mood in the international community is that this mess created by the local politicians…
Dnevni avaz: Well, that really is not truth. Did not Inzko suspend the Central Election Commission’s Decision on election of the FBiH President and Vice-presidents.
Roderick Moore: We can talk about it. However, we expect that local politicians solve problems. When you talk about actions by the High Representative I would like to remind you that he had to interfere since two parties blocked the political process and breached the Constitution. The High Representative had to react. Then we tried to mediate and get those two parties…
Dnevni avaz: You mean two HDZs?
Roderick Moore: … involve into the process. The High Representative suspended the decision of CEC pending the resolution of two cases brought before the FBiH Constitutional Court on this subject. And then those cases were withdrawn by the proponent. We reluctantly intervened since we had to prevent a constitutional crisis.
“Anticorruption team” disbanded
Roderick Moore: A body, which was in colloquial term called „the anticorruption team“, established during Miroslav Lajčak’s period, does not exist anymore. Several departments were disbanded during the process of improving the OHR’s functionality, including the said. I fear that, while it existed, the body played much bigger role in public than it was truly case in the OHR – Moore said.
Bonn powers unquestionable
Roderick Moore: The mood of the International Community at the moment is such that the Bonn powers should be used as last means. We should employ all the instruments before that. If there is no other way, if the crisis is at such level that there is no other way, then we reach after the Bonn powers. Consequently, they are not questionable but they are not the first but the ultimate means used in our mandate and work – Moore emphasized.