Serbs prepare talks on shared Bosnian government

Representatives of Bosnian Serb parties on Friday met Serbia's President Boris Tadic in Belgrade ahead of talks aimed at strengthening Bosnia's central government, an official from his cabinet said.

The meeting, confirmed to AFP by the official, lasted for several hours until late on Friday although no statement was released.

According to Beta news agency, which quoted a source close to the participants, Tadic told Bosnian Serb leaders that Serbia would not interfere into the negotiations on Bosnia's future led by US and EU officials.

Leaders from Bosnia's Serb, Muslim and Croat communities met in Sarajevo on October 9 at a summit organised by the European Union and Washington and further talks are scheduled for October 20.

Both Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, and US Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg chaired last week's meeting.

On Friday Tadic "indirectly told the (Bosnian Serb) officials that he expected them to reach a compromise with representatives of the other two nations (Muslim and Croatian one) in Bosnia that would enable the country's further progress towards EU membership," the same source said.

Prior to the meeting, Tadic said it was "an opportunity to discuss an initiative in Butmir that should be decisive for Bosnia's European integration."

Earlier, Bosnian-Serb premier Milorad Dodik told Srna news agency he would present "his party's position" to Tadic on the European Union's and Washington's wish to see stronger central institutions in Bosnia.

"Dodik was likely to refuse proposals expected to be offered by US and EU officials," Beta's source said after the meeting.

Bosnia's 1992-1995 war, sparked by ethnic tensions surrounding its break from the former Yugoslavia, left at least 100,000 people dead and more than two million homeless.

Under the Dayton peace accords that ended the war, Bosnia has since consisted of two semi-independent entities -- the Serbs' Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation -- linked with weak central institutions.

In a bid to make the country more functional and bring it closer to Europe the international community has been insisting on strengthening the central institutions at the expense of the ethnic entities and reforming the constitution.

The dispute underlines deep divisions over how to organise the country, with Serbs insisting on retaining autonomy while Muslims and Croats favour a stronger central government.