Bosnian Serb separatist leader vows to tear his country apart

Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – The Bosnian Serb separatist leader vowed to continue weakening his power. A war-torn country To the point that it will be torn apart, despite the United States' pledge to prevent such an outcome.

“I am not irrational, I know that America's response will be to use force…but I have no reason to fear that to sacrifice (Serbian) national interests.” Milorad Dodikthe Head of the part run by Bosnian SerbsHe told The Associated Press in an interview on Friday.

He said that any attempt to use international intervention to strengthen joint and multi-ethnic institutions in Bosnia would be met by the Bosnian Serbs' decision to abandon them completely and return the country to the divided and dysfunctional state it was in at the end of its brutal ethnic war. War in the 1990s.

He added that since the Western democracies would not accept this, “we will be forced in the next stage, due to their reaction, to declare complete independence” for Serb-controlled areas in Bosnia.

The Bosnian War began in 1992 when Bosnian Serbs supporting Belgrade attempted to create an “ethnically pure” region with the aim of joining neighboring Serbia by killing and expelling the country's Croats and Bosnians, most of whom are Muslims. More than 100 thousand people were killed More than 2 million people, or more than half the country's population, were evicted from their homes before a peace agreement was reached in Dayton, Ohio, in late 1995.

The agreement divided Bosnia into two entities – the Serb-administered Republika Srpska and the Bosnian-Croat Federation – which were granted broad autonomy but remained linked by some common, multi-ethnic institutions. It also established the Office of the High Representative, an international body charged with shepherding the implementation of the peace agreement that was given broad powers to enforce laws or remove officials who undermined the fragile post-war racial balance, including judges, civil servants, and officials. Parliament members.

Over the years, the Human Rights Office has put pressure on Bosnia's feuding ethnic leaders to build joint state-level institutions, including the army, intelligence and security services, the supreme judiciary, and the tax administration. However, further strengthening of existing institutions and the creation of new ones are required if Bosnia is to reach its goal He announced the goal of joining the European Union.

Dodik appeared unfazed on Friday by a statement posted the previous day by James O'Brien, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Washington would act if anyone tried to change the “fundamental element.” From the peace agreement in Bosnia in 1995, and that “there is no right to secession.”

“One thing is clear and specific among Serbs, which is the growing realization that the years and decades ahead of us are years and decades of Serbian national unity,” Dodik said.

“Brussels is using the promise to join the European Union as a tool to unify Bosnia,” said Dodik, an EU member. Strongly pro-RussianHe added: “In principle, our policy is still that we want to join (the European Union), but we no longer see that as our only alternative.”

He said the European Union “proved its ability to act against its own interests” by siding with Washington against Moscow when Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Dodik, who was Calls for separation The Serb entity has faced off from the rest of Bosnia for more than a decade, the British and US sanctions on his policies But it had Russia's support.

There are widespread fears that Russia is trying to destabilize Bosnia and the rest of the region to divert at least some of the world's attention from its policy. War in Ukraine.

Dodik said: “Whether the United States and Britain like it or not, we will transform the administrative borders between the two entities (Bosnia) into our national borders.”