Lajcak sees threat of BiH partition

25/09/2008

The current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is reminiscent of the mood that prevailed in Czechoslovakia and in Serbia-Montenegro before the two countries split up, High Representative Miroslav Lajcak said on Wednesday.

(Reuters, DPA, AFP, AKI, B92, Office of the High Representative - 24/09/08; AKI - 19/09/08)

"You can't say that you are for Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the same time treat a half of the country as an enemy state," High Representative Miroslav Lajcak said. [OHR]CAPTION

High Representative Miroslav Lajcak warned on Wednesday (September 24th) that political tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are impeding the country's reforms and could lead to its partition.

"I experienced this atmosphere that I see today in the Sarajevo-Banja Luka relations twice before," the Slovak diplomat said in an interview with Sarajevo-based daily Dnevni Avaz. "The first time it was in the relations between Bratislava and Prague, the second in the relations between Podgorica and Belgrade. We all know how it ended then," said Lajcak.

The Dayton Peace Accord, which ended the 1992-1995 conflict in the Balkan country, created BiH as a sovereign state composed of two largely autonomous entities -- a Muslim-Croat federation, called the Federation of BiH (FBiH), and the Bosnian-Serb-run Republika Srpska (RS).

As the country's October 5th local elections near, the already poor relations between leaders of the Bosniak and Bosnian Serb communities have worsened.

Earlier this month, RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik renewed his threat to call a referendum on his entity's independence if the Bosniak, Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat leaders fail to reach a mutually acceptable agreement on constitutional reform.

While the Dayton Accord helped end bloodshed in the country, it also led to the creation of one of the most cumbersome systems of governance in the world. Each of the BiH entities has its own government and parliament. In addition, there are a national parliament and government and a tripartite presidency, whose members represent the three main ethnic groups in BiH.

The international community has been urging BiH's leaders to streamline the state institutions of power. The Bosniaks are pushing for a strong central government, while the Bosnian Serbs insist on significant autonomy.

Haris Silajdzic, the Bosniak member of the tripartite presidency, compounded tensions Tuesday when he told the UN General Assembly that RS was "created by genocide" in BiH, adding that the "UN should correct the errors made during the war" and "send a clear message that the genocide will not be rewarded".

Lajcak criticised both the Bosniak and Bosnian Serb leaders in his remarks Wednesday. "You can't say that you are for Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the same time treat a half of the country as an enemy state," he said to Dnevni Avaz.

Lajcak also urged the country's leaders to stop relying on the international community to solve their problems.

"If someone thinks that he will sit in his political office sending poisoning messages while the international community will do his job, then something is wrong," he said.

Lajcak stressed that the only way to change BiH's structural makeup is through agreement of its peoples.