Sweden's Bildt urges Bosnia to focus on reforms

SARAJEVO, Nov 14 (Reuters) Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who was Bosnia's first peace envoy after the 1992-95 war, urged the Balkan country today to abandon wartime rhetoric and speed up reforms that will take it closer to Europe.

Bildt, who co-chaired the US-led Dayton peace talks that ended the war and was the first holder of the envoy post created under the accord, said during a visit to Sarajevo that the two important issues for Bosnia were the economy and Europe.

''If you keep yourselves down in the trenches of the past you will remain in the trenches of the past,'' Bildt said.

''It is by focusing on (the economy and Europe) that you can take Bosnia forward. But that is not achieved by the rhetoric of the 1990s,'' he said in reference to nationalist campaigning ahead of last October's general election.

Since 1995 Bosnia has been divided in two autonomous parts, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation. It has made some steps towards reconciliation, but the political scene is still volatile and leaders still prone to nationalist outbursts.

Reforms started under the lure of eventual EU membership but were held up in 2006 by the long pre-election campaign and the Serb Republic's refusal to merge its separate police force with that of the Muslim-Croat federation.

Unifying the police force is a key condition for Bosnia to conclude a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union, the first step towards eventual membership.

The country also needs to revise its 1995 Dayton constitution to strengthen its central government, now weaker than those of the two autonomous parts.

''Dayton was a painful compromise after an extremely painful war. But the Dayton constitution is an open-ended one and it provides for further changes. But they must be based on further compromises,'' Bildt said.

Reuters SY VV2220