Court verdict will spark tensions - Bosnian presidency

Feb 26, 2007, 13:03 GMT

Sarajevo - The chairman of Bosnia's tripartite state presidency on Monday said the verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) clearing Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina would provoke tensions in the country.

'This decision will provoke some tensions. I hope those tensions will not further grow into large demonstrations,' Bosnian Serb Nebojsa Radmanovic said.

The UN's highest judicial organ had on Monday ruled that Belgrade was not directly responsible for acts of genocide committed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The case, which dates back to 1993, was the first of its kind to be brought before the ICJ, which rules exclusively on disputes between countries.

Radmanovi stressed that tensions between political subjects in Bosnia-Herzegovina already exist.

'I call on everyone to maintain the peace, to keep peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina,' Radmanovic said in an initial reaction to the ICJ ruling.

His Muslim colleague Haris Silajdzic said he was sorry that Serbia and Montenegro had not been convicted and punished for genocide.

'The verdict was not complete, but it confirmed the fact that Serbia was responsible for violating the international convention on genocide,' said Silajdzic.

Silajdzic, who was Bosnia's foreign minister at the time when the complaint was filed in 1993, said the ICJ's verdict should prompt moves Bosnia-Herzegovina to deal with the consequences of the genocide 'through constitutional reform.'

'We must ensure sustainable refugees return, we must adopt a law to ban neglecting of the genocide committed, and we must insist that Serbia and Montenegro accept political, moral, legal and material responsibility for violating the convention on genocide,' said Silajdzic.

Tensions will appear, he said, in future relations between Bosnia and Serbia, but the ICJ's decision should however help to pave the way for final reconciliation in the region.

Bosnian Croat member of the presidency Zeljko Komsic said he was very disappointed with the verdict.

'I will respect the decision of the ICJ, but I know what I will tell my child about this one day,' said Komsic.