Bickering Bosnians Reach License Plate Accord

Bosnian ministers agreed Friday on a common license plate for their country that will have only numbers and the six letters common to the Cyrillic alphabet used by Serbs and the Latin alphabet used by Muslims and Croats.

The resolution to the year-old dispute came during a two-hour meeting between representatives of the newly elected Bosnian Serb government and their federation counterparts.

The top international official in Bosnia, Carlos Westendorp, cheered the agreement, saying it was clear that the peace process might move forward quickly with the new Bosnian Serb government.

“It’s a relief for me,” Westendorp said after the meeting in his office. “It’s much better when the parties come to an agreement.”

Last week, Bosnian Serb legislators elected a new, moderate government, led by Milorad Dodik.

Under the Dayton peace agreement, Bosnia was divided into two entities, the Bosnian Serb republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, that were expected to agree on certain common issues.

But Westendorp recently has been forced to impose solutions on these issues, including passports, citizenship and currency, because the two entities failed to reach an agreement.

On Friday, instead of dwelling on the differences, the parties found a common thread: agreeing the new license plates will have numbers combined with the only six letters common in both the Cyrillic alphabet used by the Serbs and the Latin script the Muslims and Croats use.