Bosnian Serb leader Dodik threatens to declare independence

The President of the Republic of Srpska (Serbian Republic), Milorad Dodik, stated on Friday to his ally Serbia that he is seriously considering the possibility of declaring the autonomous Serbian Republic independent from the rest of Bosnia if the issue of property law is not resolved.

“We are seriously considering making a decision to declare independence and separate the Republic of Srpska from Bosnia if the property issue is not resolved,” Dodik said.

According to the constitution, the national parliament must adopt a property law that will apply throughout Bosnia, but Dodik, who is the president of the Serbian Republic, claims that this deprives the Serbian region in Bosnia of its rights to its land, rivers, and forests.

Serbia, which was an ally of the Bosnian Serbs during the war, considers the peace agreement that ended the war in Bosnia to be important for the functioning of the country, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić at a joint press conference with Dodik.

“We will always support everything that all three constitutional nations agree on,” said Vucic, referring to the Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks.

The Dayton Peace Agreement of 1995, sponsored by the United States, ended nearly four years of war in Bosnia, which resulted in the deaths of around 100,000 people, dividing the country into two autonomous regions: the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska and the Federation shared by Bosniaks and Croats, linked by a weak central government.

“I believe that the president (Vučić) has clearly understood our message and that Serbia, as a guarantor of the Dayton peace agreement, must take into account all the details that are important for preserving this agreement,” Dodik said.

In his 25 years in power, whether as president or prime minister of the region, Dodik has worked towards strengthening the autonomy of the Serbian Republic.

In December, its regional parliament passed a law on real estate for the second time, which recognizes the Serbian Republic as the sole owner of rivers, forests, and agricultural land within its territory.

The Supreme Court of Bosnia has annulled this law twice.

Legal experts say that the issue is not with the law itself, but rather that the region does not have the authority to enact a law that should be passed by the national parliament.

Last month, Dodik ordered Serbian officials to cease all contacts and communication with the ambassadors of the USA and the UK in Bosnia after they criticized his provocative rhetoric.