U.S. 'Deeply Concerned' Over Bosnia's Political Deadlock

Miroslav Lajcak, the European Union's top envoy for the Balkans

The United States has voiced deep concern over the political deadlock in Bosnia more than five months after elections due to interethnic divisions.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement that the impasse "is preventing Bosnia-Hercegovina from addressing urgent domestic issues as well as reforms required for European and Euro-Atlantic integration."

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg met the European Union's top envoy for the Balkans, Miroslav Lajcak, on March 7 after the two diplomats visited Bosnia in late February to encourage local leaders to reach a compromise.

The Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serbs' Republika Srpska make up Bosnia since the 1992-95 war. Each entity has its own government.

So far, only the institutions in Republika Srpska have been formed after the October 3 elections, while Muslims and Croats have failed to agree in their own entity.

A central government has not been formed either.

with agency reporting