The fact is that in Bosnia today, just as in South Africa in the 1990s, most citizens willingly accept messages of hope and not fear, a programme of reconciliation and not division, and a plan to build a future and not obstruction, Inzko wrote in a column published in a number of Bosnian dailies on Sunday.
He said citizens persistently expressed their wish for a new policy to which politicians were not too inclined.
It is possible that the majority of open-minded Bosnian citizens will prevail over the intolerant minority and win over this minority to its ideas in the long term. It is possible that Bosnia will become a full member of the European family as a sovereign and prosperous democratic society, said Inzko.
He said that goal could be achieved if politicians gave up the policy of intimidation and negative messages which had been yielding terrible results for a very long time.
He voiced confidence that there were many small heroes in Bosnia who, like Mandela, were fighting every day for a better life.