World Leaders Launch Diplomatic Offensive On Bosnia Amid Secession Fears
President Dodik is the 7th Serb president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Wikimedia Commons)
Germany has threatened to cut off financial support to Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 12. This move comes as a part of a wider diplomatic effort by European and United States’ diplomats to ease the escalating ethnic and national tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Diplomats are concerned about the growing secessionist movement for which the country’s president, Milorad Dodik, advocated in October.
In an October 14 speech, Dodik unveiled plans for the separation of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, from the rest of the country. The diplomatic community has reacted quickly; in addition to potential German sanctions, other diplomatic parties have convened with Bosnia’s leaders.
On November 7, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar traveled to the country with the hopes of dissuading any secession. A week before Escobar’s visit, a U.S. envoy and Angelina Eichhorst, a Dutch diplomat, came to Bosnia to lead negotiations on electoral reform. Dodik has also reportedly met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who agreed to spearhead talks between top Bosnian leaders.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a highly decentralized country. Since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the establishment of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, the country has faced a war that lasted until 1995 and consistent ethnic tensions. There are three main ethnoreligious groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina: the Bosniaks (Muslim Bosnians), Serbs (mostly Orthodox Christian), and Croats (mostly Catholic). During the Bosnian war, the Army of the Republika Srpska and another Serbian militant group, the Scorpions, perpetrated genocide against the Bosniak people. The international community facilitated the Dayton Accords, a peace treaty that ended the war in 1995.
The Dayton Accords set up the new Bosnian government with several degrees of decentralized power. There are three presidents in the federal government of Bosnia and Herzegovina: a self-designated Serb, Croat, and Bosniak. The country itself is divided into two semi-autonomous administrative entities: the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These entities occupy distinctive regions within Bosnia and Herzegovina and have some devolved powers. A part of Dodik’s threats was further devolving federal powers to Republika Srpska, such as the judiciary and police.
Dodik’s threat to separate Bosnian-Serb interests from the rest of the state is thus a serious concern and evokes the horrors of the country’s recent past. The international community is concerned about the collapse of the Dayton Accords. Increasingly divisive rhetoric also recalls the country’s historical struggle with ethnic divisions and discrimination. Dodik also intends to establish a Bosnian-Serb army in his secession.
Republika Srpska receives support from Russia in the form of military training and weapons. Russia has also made known its intentions to oppose the renewal of EUFOR, the European Union Force intended to enforce the Dayton Accords. Thus, the European Union, the United States, Turkey, and Russia hold a stake in Bosnian-Serb nationalism spreading from Bosnia and Herzegovina.