If the president of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik declares independence from Bosnia, war will break out here within an hour, said the vice president of the Republika Srpska Camil Durakovic in an interview with the German newspaper “Welt”. writes BTA.
The opinion of Durakovic and other Bosnian politicians and analysts was included in a Welt article on a draft resolution on the Srebrenica genocide and Dodik's threats to declare Republika Srpska independent from Bosnia and Herzegovina if the resolution is passed .
A draft resolution was presented to the UN this month calling for July 11 to be declared an International Day of Remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide and condemning genocide denial and the glorification of war criminals. Serbia, as well as its UN allied countries, do not recognize the genocide and are against the adoption of the resolution. The meeting of the UN General Assembly scheduled for May 2, at which a vote on the proposed resolution was expected, was postponed.
"The policy of genocide still continues in the Republika Srpska", pointed out to “Welt“ the chairwoman of the "Mothers of Srebrenica" association; Munira Subasic, who lost five members of her family in the massacre. According to her, it is high time to stop denying the genocide and glorifying war crimes.
„Welt“ notes that Germany is one of the two countries that presented the resolution in the UN General Assembly. Berlin hopes that the resolution will be adopted, but opponents of the resolution threaten to escalate tensions in the region, the publication also notes.
The newspaper recalls that Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik has threatened to declare independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina if the Srebrenica resolution is passed. This means that the Serbs will withdraw from all decision-making processes at the level of Bosnia. “Welt“ notes that Dodik's decision is supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
„If Dodik declares independence, war will break out here within an hour”, said one of Dodik's two vice presidents – Chamil Durakovic. He added that he was worried, but could not achieve anything except to warn.
The German newspaper notes that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most fragile country in the region and is currently in the worst crisis since the breakup of Yugoslavia.
„Any conflict here could cause an uncontrollable fire, like in the nineties”, writes “Welt”.
Bosnian Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic commented to the newspaper that, in his opinion, Serbia is destabilizing Bosnia and Herzegovina. He described as “shocking“ the reaction of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to the Srebrenica resolution.
„Germany should exert more pressure”, Konakovic said and added that the German government can use its economic influence on Serbia.
Bosnia's political structure is known as one of the most complex in the world. It consists of two semi-autonomous parts - the Republika Srpska, populated mainly by Bosnian Serbs, and the Muslim-Croat Federation, where Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats live. Each part has its own government, parliament and police, but the two parts are connected through common state-level institutions, including the judiciary, army, security services and tax administration.