The international high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina has accused the political leaders of Republika Srpska, a Serb-majority entity, of seeking to destabilise the country after the statelet passed legislation to bar the Bosnian national police and judiciary.
Lawmakers in Republika Srpska approved the legislation on Thursday after a state court banned its leader Milorad Dodik from politics for six years and sentenced him to one year in prison for refusing to comply with decisions made by the high representative, Christian Schmidt.
The secessionist gambit could trigger a constitutional crisis in ethnically divided post-war Bosnia.
Schmidt, who oversees the Dayton Accords that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian War, which primarily targeted Bosniaks and resulted in more than 100,000 deaths, accused the political leaders of Republika Srpska of undermining the state.
The Dayton Accords split Bosnia and Herzegovina into two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, primarily composed of Bosniaks and Croats, and Republika Srpska, a Serb-majority entity.
A weak central government connects these entities under the high representative, who holds significant powers, including the ability to fire political leaders.
Schmidt on Friday called for the “immediate cessation of all activities that undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement and the constitutional and legal order of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, according to a handout from his office.
“These actions by the ruling coalition in Republika Srpska seek to destabilise the institutions exercising constitutional responsibilities of the State,” the statement added.
odik was indicted in 2023 after he signed legislation suspending the rulings of Bosnia’s constitutional court and Schmidt, thereby breaching the peace agreement.
Dodik, who has long called for the entity to break away and form a union with neighbouring Serbia, rejected the court ruling and urged lawmakers in the autonomous Serb-majority entity to vote to ban the state police and judiciary.
“We think this creates momentum for us to do this without the use of force,” Dodik said, adding that the region aims to roll back reforms and create a state judiciary, police, and military to counter secessionist tendencies.
After Thursday’s vote, Bosnia’s Serb parliamentary Speaker Nenad Stevandic said 49 of the 52 deputies in the assembly supported the legislation.
However, the prime minister of Bosnia’s Federation, Nermin Niksic, slammed Dodik’s push to ban the country’s institutions on Friday.
“I am not ready to participate in any talks or discuss continuing political cooperation with the institutions of Republika Srpska until all these actions against the constitution, the Dayton peace agreement, and the state are stopped and annulled,” said Niksic on social media.
The Bosniak member of the tripartite presidency, Denis Becirovic, also condemned Dodik and Republika Srpska officials, saying their moves were an “attack on the country’s constitutional order”.