Bosnia is unsustainable, warns Bosnian Serb leader

Oct 11, 2009, 11:20 GMT

Belgrade - Bosnia is an unsustainable country, said Serb Republic Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, dismissing the efforts of the international community to present constitutional changes in Bosnia, local media reported Sunday.

Only a day after the meeting of high ranking US and EU officials with the feuding Bosnian leaders over the constitutional reform proposal, Dodik told B92 television that the Serb entity in Bosnia - the Serb Republic was not interested in the changes.

'We are not interested in the constitutional changes,' he said. Bosnia 'is demonstrating its failure with the fact it came as a result of efforts of the international community to sustain it as a state.'

The 'big power' leaders gave Bosnian officials until October 20 to find common ground and agree on constitutional changes. The EU and US called the meeting last Friday hoping to end the blockade of Bosnia caused by ethnic bickering and corruption that has persisted nearly 14 years after the devastating 1992-95 Bosnian war.

After the war Bosnia was divided into two largely autonomous parts - the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia- Hercegovina. The international plan aims to strengthen central Bosnian institutions at the expense of the entities.

Dodik however has dismissed such a possibility. 'The international community has overplayed its hand in Bosnia, and this will become evident in the end,' he said, adding that the international community has been too lenient with Muslims and too strict with Bosnian Serbs.

Bosnian Serbs, who make up a third of the country's four million population, have threatened a referendum to join their 'mother state' - Serbia.

Bosnian Croats have also expressed a preference toward unification with Croatia, while only Bosnian Muslims, who make up half of the inhabitants, support a united Bosnia with a strong central government.