Is Bosnia and Herzegovina in real danger of falling apart?
08 June 2024
Soon, it will be 30 years since the Bosnian war ended, lasting from 1992 to 1995. However, a lot of trauma remains, as the fear mongering has not stopped quite yet. Milorad Dodik, leader of Republika Srpska, the other Bosnian entity alongside the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is yet again making a move for secession.
Denying the Srebrenica genocide, he threatened separation if the resolution recognising 11 July as the international remembrance day of the Srebrenica Genocide passed in the UN GA – and it did indeed pass. Then, on 24 May, Dodik stated that in the next month Republika Srpska would forward a document to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to "peacefully disassociate from the country." He also stated that “it would only be natural and historically justified for Serbs to live in one singular country”, suggesting Republika Srpska joining Serbia into a single state.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has three main ethnic groups: Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. They all lived in multiethnic cities until the Bosnian war. During the war, large parts of the country were ethnically cleansed, making the country much more divided by ethnicities. After three and a half years of war, the Dayton Agreement was created to put an end to it. In the agreement, Bosnia was to be split into two entities and one independent district – Brčko.
The latest provocation by Dodik was followed by a statement from the US ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Michael Murphy: "This is...secession by another name, and it is dangerous, irresponsible, anti-Dayton, and puts the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and multiethnic character of Bosnia at risk.... Republika Srpska can only exist inside Bosnia-Herzegovina. [Its] secession or 'disassociation' does not mean Republika Srpska's independence or the end of Bosnia-Herzegovina, it means the end of the Republika Srpska."
 | Sara Čurić Milorad Dodik, an ethnically Serb nationalist who has been in Republika Srpska’s leadership one way or the other since 1998, has called for its independence ever since the early 2000s. So don’t let it fool you: the Srebrenica resolution is just the newest excuse that he uses for his separatist agenda. Even though this isn’t the first time secession was mentioned, it still brings fear and anxiety to citizens who are afraid of the 90s repeating all over again. Many people are afraid of another war breaking out if Republika Srpska tries to separate. |
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