Bosnian Serbs may seek to secede, prime minister says

Sep 13, 2010, 12:47 GMT

Belgrade - Ethnic Serbs are 'tormented' by life in Bosnia and may seek to split off their part of the country, their Prime Minister Milorad Dodik said in an interview published Monday.

'If the pressure on the Serb Republic becomes too great, we will calmly and slowly build our position to one day decide our fate on our own,' Dodik told the Belgrade daily Politika.

The West is pressing Bosnian leaders, particularly Serbs, to transfer authorities from ethnic communities to central state institutions and end a crippling political blockade.

The international community partitioned Bosnia in 1995 along ethnic lines, into the Serb Republic and the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina of Muslims and Croats, to end a three-year war.

The nearly-sovereign 'entities' have broad powers, including the right to veto any legislation in central institutions. The result is a complicated, easy-to-stall administration.

Now the Serbs are flatly refusing to hand any authority to central institutions, saying that they will not accept to be outvoted by wartime foes, Muslims and Croats.

Instead, Dodik has been threatening with secession with increasing regularity as the October 3 general election date approaches. 'Our position is clear - a peaceful dissociation is best for Bosnia and Herzegovina,' Dodik told Politika.

Pollsters predict that nationalist hardliners, in power in all three major ethnic communities, are set to again win elections.

Bosnia has around 3.8 million inhabitants. Half are Muslim Bosniaks, one-third are Serbs and Croats make up around 10 per cent. The territory is split roughly in halves between the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation.