The Honorable Haris Silajdzic, co-prime minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will be the 1997 Henry E. and Nancy Horton Bartels World Affairs Fellow at Cornell Oct. 16 and 17.

Silajdzic will present the Bartels Fellowship Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 4 p.m. in the Alice Statler Auditorium, Statler Hall.

Titled "Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 21st Century," the lecture is free and open to the public.

Formerly the prime minister and foreign minister of the country, Silajdzic also served as the Bosnian ambassador to the United Nations and is an academic whose career encompasses the fields of Arabic-Islamic studies and the history of diplomacy.

Silajdzic, who holds a doctoral degree, specializes in American-Albanian diplomatic relations. He has published two books and numerous articles in the field.

He also taught Arabic language at the University of Pristina, in the former Yugoslavia, and has published articles concerning the Middle East and Islamic topics. He has lectured at Harvard University and the University of Maryland, at the Carnegie Foundation and the Woodrow Wilson Center, among others. He currently teaches at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo.

Silajdzic's two-day visit to Cornell is hosted by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. He will meet with students and faculty from government classes, Peace Studies, the Cornell Political Forum and other student groups.

Silajdzic became actively involved in politics in 1990, following the first free elections in Bosnia. He served as foreign minister of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina until November 1993, when he became prime minister of the republic. He held that post until February 1996. In April 1996 he established the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which he is president. The leading opposition party in the country, it promotes a multinational and secular Bosnia. In December 1996 he became co-chair of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and holds that position today.

Silajdzic first gained international recognition between 1992 and 1995, when he helped publicize the war and devastation taking place in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He alerted the world community to the plight of the civilian population that was suffering under attacks in which the most fundamental human rights were violated. He engaged in negotiations with governments all over the world to open doors for almost 2 million refugees leaving Bosnia to escape terror and death.

In March 1994 he headed the government's delegation in negotiations that ended successfully in the Washington agreement, creation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and an end to fighting between Croat and government forces. In Dayton, Ohio, where the final peace accord was reached, Silajdzic was a key negotiator, working with President Alija Izetbegovic.

Silajdzic today represents the forces for an integrated, secular and multinational Bosnia. He continues to demand the right of return of refugees and displaced persons and is a proponent of multiethnicity, political pluralism and parliamentary democracy in the country.

The Henry E. and Nancy Horton Bartels World Affairs Fellowship was established at Cornell by the Bartels in 1984 to foster a broadened world perspective among students by bringing distinguished international public figures to campus. Henry and Nancy Horton Bartels are both members of the Cornell Class of 1948.