Paddy Ashdown

High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina

(Official Website of the British Liberal Democrats, BBC, The Guardian, The Economist, AFP, DPA, Political.org)

Paddy Ashdown took over the role of the international community's high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) from Wolfgang Petritsch in May 2002.

Jeremy John Durham "Paddy" Ashdown was born on 27 February 1941 in India. He attended the Bedford School in the UK. Between 1959 and 1972, Ashdown served in the Royal Marines and became the youngest commander in the special boat squadron. After learning Malay, he went to Hong Kong in 1967 to study Chinese. He returned to Britain in 1970.

In 1972 Ashdown joined the Foreign Office. Between 1972 and 1976 he served at the British Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. From 1976 till his company closed in 1981, he worked in local industry in Yeovil. After four months out of a job, he became a counsellor assisting young unemployed people.

In 1983, Ashdown was elected member of parliament for Yeovil, representing the Liberal Democrats. He was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats in July 1988 and led the party until August 1999. He left parliament in 2001.

Ashdown first visited BiH during the war in 1992 and was among those calling for a stronger military intervention there.

As high representative, Ashdown will oversee the implementation of the Dayton peace accords. He will have the authority to impose the country's laws and to dismiss elected officials. He will be tasked with establishing the rule of law, improving the police and judiciary and laying the foundations for a simpler constitution.

During his two-year term, Ashdown has said that, his aim would be to work "with the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to move the country forward towards full statehood within Europe".