The Bosnian Serb Parliament is meeting in Banja Luka today to launch the controversial process of withdrawing from Bosnia’s common institutions, mainly the army, despite warnings from Western powers.
This meeting of the Assembly of the Republika Srpska (Republika Srpska, Bosnian Serb entity) is being held on the initiative of Milorad Dodik.
The Bosnian Serb political leader has been pushing for secession for years, but this time he seems to be taking a step in that direction.
Milorad Dodik, 62, a member of Bosnia’s collective presidency, systematically complains that the country in which he participates is “impossible”.
Dodik was once a moderate politician and a protector of Western powers. Today he is a nationalist and is supported by Moscow. He accuses Westerners of weakening the Republika Srpska over the years by strengthening the central state through the imposition of reforms, in a process desired by Bosnian Muslims.
“If we do not have the political reflexes now (…) in two years we will have nothing to defend,” he said.
The Dayton Peace Accords ended the 1995 inter-Bosnian war (100,000 dead), but ratified the division of Bosnia into two entities, the Republika Srpska and a Croat-Muslim entity.
In the post-war years, a weak central state established common institutions, the army, the judiciary, the tax administration and the intelligence services.
Milorad Dodik says the transfer of power from the entities to the central government took place with 140 decisions. And he wants the return of all these powers to the Republika Srpska, starting with the army, the judiciary and the tax administration.
The Republika Srpska parliament will begin the process today with the adoption of “conclusions” that will give the Serbian entity government six months to “regain the transferred powers”, according to a Dodik party (SNSD) official.
Milorad Dodik’s announcement in September that the Serb entity would form an army has worried Washington, which has sent diplomats to Bosnia to reiterate US support for Bosnia’s territorial integrity and its central government.
The Peace Implementation Council, which oversees compliance with the Dayton Accords, said Wednesday that “unilateral withdrawal” from federal institutions was not possible and warned of “consequences” for any side violating the peace agreement.
The statement was not signed by Russia, which participates in the Council along with Western powers.
“The people leading the Republika Srpska are determined to move forward,” Milorad Dodik said, describing the parliamentary session as “historic”.
SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
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Source From: Capital
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