Bosnian Serbs could follow Kosovo's lead

Jul 24, 2010, 16:56 GMT

Belgrade - Bosnia's 1 million Serbs could follow the example set by Kosovo and form a breakaway state, a Bosnian Serb leader was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Asked by the newspaper danas whether Serbs would follow the Kosovo Albanians' lead, Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik said it could happen, 'hypothetically.'

'Until now, the practice was different, because we were always told that cannot be our path,' Dodik said in an interview conducted after The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said this week that the Albanian majority in Kosovo broke no law by splitting from Serbia.

'This ICJ opinion, which was backed by the most powerful countries in the world ... says it is a possible practice.

'Why would it then be a problem if somebody, let's say hypothetically even the Serb Republic, was to do the same in the future?', he asked, adding that the ruling 'will not be without consequences in Bosnia.'

Dodik said the Bosnian Serb community would discuss the issue after elections on October 3.

The peace deal brokered by United States to end the war in Bosnia divided the country along ethnic lines, with the Serbs in their Serb Republic and Muslims and Croats sharing the Federation Bosnia- Herzegovina.

The so-called entities have wide-ranging authority, and feuding among ethnic leaders has paralyzed Bosnia's central institutions.

The European Union has recommended Bosnia reform its administrative system and transfer some power from the ethnic entities to central institutions, but Dodik rejected the plan and threatened to take steps toward a secession of the Serb part.

Referring to the ICJ ruling, which 'again humiliated Serbia,' Dodik said that 'there still is a powerful front against Serbia and the Serbian people.'

That front, he said, is led by countries which recognized Kosovo - among the 69 which have done so are the US, 22 of the 27 EU countries and Japan, as well as most of Serbia's neighbours.