(12 Oct 2010) SHOTLIST
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Wide of plane taxiing on tarmac
2. Various of plane arriving
3. Close of US flag on side of plane
4. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton disembarks plane, shakes hands with US Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Patrick Moon, Bosnia-Herzegovina Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sven Alkalaj, and family of US diplomat killed during the war, Robert Frasure
5. Cutaways flags
6. Clinton gets into black limo
7. Various of convoy leaving
STORYLINE
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Sarajevo on Monday to push for political reforms in the Balkans, in hopes that such changes will lead to the region's full integration into the European Union and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation).
Arriving to the capital of the ethnically divided Bosnia-Herzegovina, which just held elections, Clinton was expected to urge the country's new leadership to make EU membership a priority.
On Tuesday, Clinton will meet with the three-member presidency to push for constitutional and other changes deemed necessary for EU membership.
Bosnia is falling behind other countries in the Western Balkans in making progress on such reforms, and its recent elections brought few changes to its political climate.
Top US diplomat, Philip Gordon, told reporters aboard Clinton's plane that Bosnia needs to overcome its "ethnic divisions" to move closer to European and NATO membership.
Gordon stressed, however, that Clinton would not be trying to impose reform.
Gordon cited a provision in the constitution that prohibits anyone other than Bosniaks, Serbs or Croats from being president, a limitation that excludes Jews, Roma or other minorities from elected leadership positions.
Since Bosnia's brutal 1992-95 civil war, the country has been divided in two autonomous regions, a Serb republic and a federation of Bosniaks, or Bosnian Muslims, and Croats, linked by a weak central government.
The EU has conditioned further progress toward membership on a stronger central government and a better-functioning state, but Bosnian Serbs reject the idea because they fear they would lose their autonomy.
After Bosnia, Clinton will travel to the Serbian capital of Belgrade to push leaders for a speedy start to talks with the world's newest nation, Kosovo.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, which the latter does not recognise.
Neither Serbia nor Kosovo are members of the EU.
Serbian President Boris Tadic has said he is ready to participate in talks but will never recognise Kosovo's secession.
Clinton will wrap up her European tour travelling to Brussels on Thursday.
There, she will also attend NATO meetings with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to discuss European security, the situation in Afghanistan and prepare for a November summit of alliance leaders in Portugal.
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