The Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia confirmed on Monday that German politician Christian Schmidt , the top international envoy in Bosnia and Herzegovina , will resign after five years in office.

The post of high representative was created after the 1992-95 Bosnian War to oversee the implementation of the US-brokered Dayton Peace Agreement , which left Bosnia divided into the Serb-majority Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, two entities linked by a weak central government.

Over the years, the post of high representative has gradually evolved into a position of extraordinary political authority, giving the person holding the post the power to impose laws and dismiss elected and appointed officials.

That is why any change at the top of the OHR carries weight far beyond a normal diplomatic handover.

Not solely a personal move?

Although Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) cited the OHR at the weekend as saying that Schmidt had "personally…