UN RAISES CONCERN OVER ESCALATING TENSIONS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Fri 14 March 2025:

The UN on Thursday expressed concern about growing tension in Bosnia and Herzegovina, calling for peace and stability.

“We call on all political leaders to fully support and facilitate the work of state institutions in order to consolidate peace and ensure stability throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina,” spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Urging “relevant actors to exercise restraint,” Dujarric urged them to “refrain from divisive discourse and actions and instead to commit to constructive dialogue and cooperation.”

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Dujarric’s statement comes amid escalating tensions after a Bosnian court last month sentenced Milorad Dodik, president of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb entity of the Republika Srpska (RS), to a year in prison and barred him from politics for six years for defying the authority of the top international official overseeing the implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, that ended the Bosnia war.

Following the ruling, the RS National Assembly voted to ban state institutions — including the Supreme Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) — from operating within the RS entity.

Dodik, who signed measures defying Bosnia’s Constitution, said he would not comply with court or prosecutor’s office summons once the disputed laws take effect, claiming he would be protected by RS police.

National media have described the actions as a “coup,” while the Bosnian Constitutional Court annulled his controversial decisions.

The agreement brought about the end of the war between the country’s three main ethnic groups — Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats — that began in 1992 during the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, deemed as the bloodiest conflict on European soil since World War II.

The peace deal, parts of which act as the country’s constitution, split the country into two main administrative units, or entities: the Serb-majority RS and the Bosniak-Croat Federation of BiH (FBiH), partially overseen by an umbrella state-level government.

Meant to appease the former belligerents, it created a complicated system of checks and balances, said to be the world’s most complex democracy.

Meanwhile, NATO’s secretary general on Monday pledged the military alliance’s “unwavering” support for Bosnia’s territorial integrity, visiting the capital Sarajevo amid one of the most significant political crises roiling the EU membership hopeful since the end of the war.

“Three decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement, I can tell you: NATO remains firmly committed to the stability of this region and to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Rutte said. “We will not allow hard-won peace to be jeopardised.”

Rutte called any actions undermining the accord, the constitutional order or national institutions “unacceptable”.

“Inflammatory rhetoric and actions are dangerous. They pose a direct threat to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s stability and security,” the NATO chief added.

The European peacekeeping force in Bosnia, EUFOR, has said it was stepping up the number of its troops in response to the tensions.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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