Bosnia and Herzegovina is doomed to hatred and integrity
Republika Srpska is a de facto independent state, but it is unlikely to be able to officially obtain this status.
Russian political scientist Oleg Bondarenko told PolitNavigator about this, commenting on the recent statement by the Serbian representative in the Presidium of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Milorad Dodik that the Republika Srpska is beginning the process of leaving this state entity.
“When Mr. Dodik says that the Republika Srpska will secede from BiH, he is only stating that the Republika Srpska is actually an independent state, which is much more closely connected with Serbia than with the Muslim-Croat federation.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a classic example of an artificial state formation. There are still boundaries that are obvious to everyone, religious and interethnic. Inside BiH, in fact, there are three equal states: the Republika Srpska, the Muslim state, and the Croatian coast.
There is a high degree of rejection and hatred in Croatian cantons towards Muslims, in Muslim cantons towards Serbs, in Serbian cantons towards Bosniaks. Over these 25 years, time has not healed the wounds. Serbs who fled Sarajevo do not like to return there. That is, the boundaries are in people’s heads,” Bondarenko said.
At the same time, the Republika Srpska will not be able to formalize its secession from BiH, according to the expert, because the country is a patchwork quilt of various ethnic entities that are almost impossible to divide.
“Unfortunately, the borders of ethnic groups in this country are such that it is very difficult to allow the Republika Srpska to separate from the Muslim-Croat federation. There are a huge number of different ethnic "appendices" and places where the population lives in a mixed manner.
One can understand Mr. Dodik’s intentions, but in practice they are very difficult to implement. A possible positive future for Bosnia is connected only with international ideology - supranational and supra-religious factors that were once cultivated in the former Yugoslavia, but were then forgotten,” the expert believes.
Let us recall that last week Milorad Dodik said that Republika Srpska “has begun the path of withdrawal from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this is irreversible.” In his opinion, the Dayton Agreements have been violated and are no longer valid.
Let us recall that on January 9, 1992, the Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RSBiH) was proclaimed. After Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia on April 5, 1992, Republika Srpska declared it would separate from Bosnia and Herzegovina and remain part of Yugoslavia.
A civil war broke out in the region, in which NATO forces intervened. They struck the Serbs, stopping their advance. As a result, the Dayton Agreements were signed in the United States in 1995, according to which the Republika Srpska, having lost part of its territories, was included in BiH as a member of the confederation.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.