Bosnia's new top international envoy, German politician Christian Schmidt, officially takes over the post of UN high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko, who has held it for the past 12 years. A quarter-century since Bosnia's bloody war between its Croats, Muslims and Serbs, the Balkans country is still under the supervision of the international community. The nomination of Schmidt, backed notably by Western nations, was opposed at the UN by China and Russia, who want the post to be abolished. Bosnian Serbs also opposed it through a peace implementation council and argued that the UN envoy was "illegal". IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES