After the bloody years of war, Bosnia-Herzegovina has a fragile state order.
The Bosnian Serbs may want to break this open - with the first steps this week.
Sarajevo / Vienna - Around 1000 kilometers southeast of Munich, a critical political conflict is coming to a head: In Bosnia-Herzegovina, a split in the state could be approaching - at least this threatens Milorad Dodik, incumbent head of the state and for a long time the politically influential representative of the Bosnian Serbs.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Bosnian Serbs want to leave state institutions
According to reports from international media - including the Austrian
Standard
- Dodik has announced legislative proposals by Wednesday (October 20) through which the Bosnian-Serbian Republika Srpska is to leave the joint state institutions.
The area of what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina was the scene of a bloody war in the 1990s and, among other things, a genocide of the male Bosniak population in Srebrenica.
After the war in Yugoslavia, the country reconstituted itself in a complicated structure - also to avoid conflicts between the Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks.
The country is formally divided into the Republika Srpska, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Brčko Special Administrative Region.
The state is led by a triple presidium.
He is currently headed by Dodik.
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Bosnian Serbs want their own army - explosive plans in the state
But Dodik's Bosnian-Serbian SNSD party now wants to partially leave the fragile state construct.
As early as next week, on October 25th and 26th, the parliament of the Republika Srpska will vote on the plans, Dodik announced on Sunday in Sarajevo.
Specifically, there is an end to joint tax collection.
The head of the SNSD also called for the withdrawal of all Bosnian Serbs from the institutions of the state as a whole.
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“Friends”: Milorad Dodik in early 2019 during a handshake with Vladimir Putin.
© Kremlin Pool / Imago
Other demands are even more explosive: Dodik spoke out in favor of the formation of a Bosnian-Serbian army at the end of September and threatens to block the barracks of the national army, which is considered important for the stability of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
According to reports, the republic had bought long guns for its part of the police in recent years, which are usually used more in the military.
In the event of a hypothetical NATO intervention, “friends” would be called for help, Dodik announced - presumably with a view to Russia, which is traditionally considered to be the protective power of the Serbs.
Dodik and Russian President Vladimir Putin have met again and again in person in the past.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Dispute over law against genocide denial - German UN envoy does not act for the time being
The Bosnian Serbs have been boycotting the work of the central institutions of the Balkan state since July. A current stumbling block is a ban on genocide denial. The then High UN envoy Valentin Inzko had imposed it shortly before the end of his mandate - the regulation is essentially aimed at the genocide of Srebrenica, in which more than 8,000 people were murdered and which will be celebrated for the 25th time in the summer of 2020 would have. Dodik called for people to ignore the law.
Inzko's successor is the CSU politician Christian Schmidt. In view of Dodik's plans, which run counter to the Dayton Peace Agreement, he could intervene and, for example, dismiss the politician from his position as chairman of the three-member state presidium. According to the
standard,
Schmidt does
not want to do that for the time being. The European Council recently criticized the boycott of the state institutions, but warned “all political decision-makers” to exercise moderation.
It remains to be seen whether Dodik's plans will become reality: the politician has been threatening similar projects for years.
According to a correspondent
report by the Euractiv portals
, there has recently been resistance to the latest announcements in the Republika Srpska as well.
The opposition had spoken out against a unilateral assumption of power.
One aspect allegedly also: Problems with the payment of wages and salaries by the Republika Srpska.
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