Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson recently spoke at the Bosnia Advisory Council Conference in Washington. The Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the interests of Bosnian Americans and works to improve relations between the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina."History can repeat itself if we are not aware of it,' Congresswoman Johnson told the conference in her remarks assessing how far Bosnia and Herzegovina has come toward reconciliation since its war of independence ended 17 years ago. 'If we you stop paying attention to history,' she continued, "things do not necessarily move forward. They can start to roll back."
Johnson's warning was timely, given how the fractured nature of Bosnian society increasingly hampers the country's economic development and integration into the European Union and NATO. Congresswoman Johnson's interest in Bosnia was sparked by her travels there in the early 1990's as a member of a delegation led by U.S. President Bill Clinton, when she encouraged women to take a part in the peace negotiations.
