The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently quite fragile and it is anticipated that things would get worse if Bosnian Serb representative Milorad Dodik withdraws from the BiH institutions in order to achieve the independence of Republika Srpska from the rest of Bosnia. Dodik’s desire to split BiH in two and merge with Serbia, stems from Serbian President Aleksander Vucic’s nationalist and irredentist ideology of the “Greater Serbia”.
The Sarajevo court filed a lawsuit against Milorad Dodik, the head of the Bosnian Serbs, on Monday for failing to follow the special international envoy’s recommendations. Following the confirmation of Dodik’s indictment for defying the top international mediator supervising peace in the Balkan nation, tensions in BiH have risen. Actually, Dodik has challenged the peace in BiH and the Balkans several times, but this time if he is tried and convicted, Dodik could face up to five years in prison. The Serbs of Republika Srpska marched for several days in support of Dodik while carrying Russian flags and pictures of Vladimir Putin demanding union with Serbia.
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The United States has sanctioned Dodik a third time. He is well-known for his close ties with Putin, and his attempts to split up the Serbian portion of BiH and incorporate it into Serbia. This was also the reason Dodik was sanctioned by the USA in 2017 and again in 2022 for fraudulent acts as well as delaying and endangering the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. On July 31, 2023, Dodik was sanctioned by the US after he signed several contentious laws, including drafts that refuse to recognize decisions made by Bosnia’s international representative, Christian Schmidt. According to the laws Dodik signed, the Office of the International High Representative in Bosnia’s rulings will no longer be published in the Official Gazette and are consequently not accepted out. Additionally, Dodik eliminated the territorial jurisdiction of the Bosnian constitutional court in Republika Srpska with another law.
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Dodik is also preparing a decree for the expulsion of the high international representative from the territory of Republika Srbska, “The police stations have the duty that if Schmidt steps on the territory of the RS, to organize units to take him out”, said Dodik on a TV. Republika Srpska does not recognize Schmidt as a high representative in Bosnia and Hercegovina because he was not appointed by the United Nations Organization. The Ambassadors of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC SB) formally appointed Christian Schmidt as the next High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, following his candidature put forward by Germany.
Dodik together with Aleksandar Vulin, the director of the Security Information Agency of Serbia (BIA), attended the Moscow International Security Conference following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Dodik, who is among main proponents of the “Serbian world” platform, frequently attended meetings with Aleksandar Vulin, the Serbian government’s then-interior minister, and the soldiers who also took part in the conflict in Kosovo to reassure them that they were defending Serbian territory. Furthermore Dodik has repeatedly denied the genocide that happened in Srebrenica in July 1995, by the Republika Srpska army, which killed about 8,000 men and boys. The Srebrenica massacre is regarded as the worst atrocity to have happened in Europe since World War II and has been recognized as genocide by The Hague International Court.
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Hyper-nationalism, threats of war, and the denial of the genocide by the Serbian leaders in Serbia and RS have all contributed to a narrative that is spreading among the younger generations in Serbia and BiH and is being taught in schools.
More on this story: Bosnia: a vote between nationalism and reformism
