Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik has been accused of ‘corrupt activities’ and sanctioned by the US, after years of pushing for the Serb-run part of Bosnia to separate and unite with Serbia, writes Sky News
EU foreign ministers have been discussing ways to calm tensions in Bosnia, in order to stop a potential break-up of the country.
It comes amid attempts by the leader of Bosnia’s Serb-run region to win greater autonomy for ethnic Serbs in Bosnia, reversing what he has described as years of gradual centralisation.
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik was last month sanctioned by the United States for “corrupt activities”, which officials said threatened to destabilise the region and undermine the US-brokered Dayton Peace Accord.
For some years, Mr Dodik has been advocating for the Serb-run part of Bosnia, Republika Srpska, to unite with neighbouring Serbia.
In recent months, he has called for Bosnian Serbs to have their own army, judiciary and tax system, in contravention of the Dayton Accord.
Although Republika Srpska and the Bosniak and Croat parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina have separate parliaments, the two are linked by shared, state-wide institutions, and all actions at a national level require consensus from all three ethnic groups.
Analysts say the kind of changes Mr Dodik has been calling for could destabilise the entire western Balkans and risk plunging it back into civil war.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday there was a risk Bosnia could “fall apart”.
