Some political officials in Bosnia are “continuing the war through other means,” Bosnia’s Security Minister, Selmo Cikotic, told N1, adding that the country’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity is in a “serious conflict” with the international community.
The minister was referring to the recent decisions of the RS entity National Assembly which rejected the law banning genocide denial that the former High Representative in BiH, Valentin Inzko, imposed.
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The High Representative is the international official tasked with overseeing the civilian implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement.
German politician Christian Schmidt took over the post from Inzko a few days ago.
The situation Bosnia is in currently is an issue of “the attitude of the international community towards the Republika Srpska and the actions that officials make, the decisions they make,” Cikotic said.
“We have to wait and see what the international community will do,” he said.
The Serb member of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency and leader of the ruling party in the RS, Milorad Dodik, said that RS police will prevent the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) from implementing the new law and that it will stop any arrests based on it.
The Interior Minister of the RS, Dragan Lukac, said that he is waiting for an order from Dodik regarding the decision.
“SIPA is active in the entire territory of BiH, which includes RS. At the moment, the SIPA participates in the realization of a large number of activities. I have no doubt that SIPA will continue to do its job constructively in the interest of all BiH citizens,” Cikotic said.
Cikotic said he is in contact with SIPA director Darko Culum and that he did not get the impression that there could be a conflict between RS police and members of the state agency.
“We have a problem of a political nature, RS is in a serious conflict with the international community and a more serious conflict with the values of justice, freedom and peace. Raising tensions would suit some people, but I know from my experience that it is necessary to invest a lot of effort, consultations, to resolve things in the interest of the citizens,” Cikotic said.
The minister argued that very often those who resort to the use of undemocratic and uncivilized methods in the interest of a certain ethnic group produced damage for everyone, especially for their own people.
“Even today, we have politicians on the scene who are continuing the war through other means. We have those who present themselves as bearers of European values, ignoring the need to participate in solving one of the most serious issues in today's Europe – the issue of migration. That is how RS behaves, that is how the cantons with the Croat majority behave,” he said.
Cikotic noted that the Office of the High Representative (OHR) is an integral part of the Dayton Agreement.
“The competencies of the OHR were taken from the BiH Presidency, the Parliament and the Constitutional Court. It did not get them from Washington or Brussels. The political system in BiH is not complete if the High Representative does not do his job,” he argued.
“We had the behaviour of a large number of EU officials – who said that the BiH system is not functional, ignoring the fact that the High Representative is not doing what he should for the system to be functional,” he added.
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