Following three years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), during which over 10 percent of the population were killed or wounded, and over half of the population displaced, a peace agreement, the Dayton Accords (DA), was negotiated in November 1995. The DA acknowledged the bitter ethnic divides that led to war by establishing a government structure with a weak central State
the ethnically based Entities (the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska) retained political, military, and economic authority. The DA also provided for a strong international police and military presence and an international overseer-the Office of the High Representative (OHR). Although this structure was a necessary political compromise at the time of the DA, it has presented difficult challenges to the Bank as well as other donors.