Holbrooke mission completed

Holbrooke Ends Bosnia Mission

After talks in Belgrade with the Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, and the Serb member of the Bosnian presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik, Mr Holbrooke said they had agreed to abide by an agreement of last year that the former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, would remain out of the public domain.

Agreement to keep Karadzic out of view

Mr Karadzic is suspected of war crimes and has been indicted by the International tribunal at the Hague. It is widely believed that he still wields extensive power over the Bosnian Serbs from behind the scenes.

The Bosnian Serbs refusal to hand over suspected war criminals, and their resistance to the resettlement of non-Serbs in their former homes, have been major stumbling blocks to the fulfillment of the Dayton peace accords.

Mr Holbrooke said during his tour of the former Yugoslavia that he was not expecting spectacular results.

However he did announce that there had been progress on the issue of a common currency for Bosnia. Up to now there has been deadlock over the design of a common coupon for the whole country, with the Bosnian Serbs, Muslims and Croats unable to agree on how it should look.

It seems the Belgrade talks have resulted in an agreement that there would be religious symbols on the currency, but that still has to get further approval.