On 6 April, OSCE Head of Mission Robert Barry announced a joint OSCE/Office of the High Representative Supplementary Arbitration Award on the implementation of municipal election results in Srebrenica. This action became necessary after repeated attempts at crafting a solution mutually acceptable to the Coalition and Serb elected councillors failed, and the subsequent Arbitration Awards were not honoured.
The Supplementary Arbitration Award suspends the work of the elected Municipal Assembly and establishes an Interim Executive Board, composed of two Bosniaks and two Serbs and chaired by an international personality. Each of the four members will choose their deputies from the opposing ethnic group in the days to come.
Larry Sampler, a senior officer of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been appointed as Acting International Member and Chair of the Interim Executive Board. Mr. Sampler is a US citizen who has worked in BiH for two years in a variety of roles, most recently as an advisor to former Senior Deputy Head of Mission Richard Ellerkmann on Srebrenica from October 1997 until last month. He also served as Director of Implementation following the September Municipal Elections, where he helped shepherd through many of the municipalities that would eventually be finally certified. Prior to that, Mr. Sampler was an analyst in the OSCE’s Joint Elections Operations Centre, and in 1996, he served on the operations staff for the Civil-Military Task Force in Sarajevo. He is currently the OSCE’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Operations.
All the players involved in the Srebrenica issue know Mr. Sampler. The elected Serb councilors have been to Sarajevo at his invitation to discuss election results. He has also had extensive dealings wit the Coalition members, and has addressed their councilors’ club on two occasions.
Mr. Sampler holds a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Applied Physics and minor certificates in History, Political Science, Communications, International Relations and Public Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is currently working for his Master’s Degree in Public Policy. During his 15 years in the US Army, he was trained in long-term and sustained operations, civil affairs, communications, and information campaigns. He also spent two years working for Sen. Robert Dole in his bid for the U.S. presidency.
Danko Mirovic will be responsible for the Department of Finance and Economy. He is a technical expert from the Srebrenica Local Election Commission. Mr. Mirovic is an economist by training, and a tourism manager by trade.
Rade Golic will head the Department of Administration and Public Service. He is also a member of the Srebrenica LEC, and serves as a local judge.
Nesib Mandzic will be responsible for the Department of Urbanism, Housing and Construction. He is a scholar and a teacher.
Abdurahman Malkic will head the Department of Development and Reconstruction. He was the carrier of the Coalition’s list.
Governmental authorities in the Federation and the Republika Srpska have been involved in the choices of these individuals from the start, and consulted as to the substance of the Supplementary Arbitration Award.
The High Representative and the OSCE Head of Mission believe that the creation of this temporary administration is in the best interests of the people of Srebrenica, and offers the best hope of securing a working government in that municipality.