OSCE head urges Bosnia's leaders to respect constitutional order

SARAJEVO - The chairperson of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Elina Valtonen, on Tuesday urged rival leaders in Bosnia to respect constitutional order and engage in talks to resolve a political crisis.

Valtonen was visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina as the Balkan country faces its biggest political crisis since the end of its 1990s war which formed two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation.

Following a meeting with Bosnian Foreign Minister Elvedin Konakovic in Sarajevo, Valtonen said she was "deeply concerned about the current crisis."

The president of Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic, Milorad Dodik, defied rulings by an international peace envoy to Bosnia, aimed at preventing the multi-ethnic Balkan state from slipping back into conflict.

That triggered a dispute, pitting Dodik and allies Russia and Serbia against the U.S. and European Union, which began after Dodik was sentenced in February to jail and banned from holding office for six years over defying the envoy's rulings.