Serbs want to go it alone

Serbs want to go it alone

Bosnian entity opposes centralization, wants independence vote EPA
Protesters gather in front of the Bosnian Presidency building during a demonstration yesterday. Police detained four men who allegedly threw plastic bags filled with red, blue and green paint at the walls of Presidency in Sarajevo.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_world_2554722_29/09/2006_74781

BANJA LUKA (AFP) - Despite constant pressure by the international community to accept reforms aimed at strengthening Bosnia’s central institutions, the country’s Serbs still strongly oppose it and do not hide their wish to organize an independence referendum.
“Serbs accept Bosnia only in one way and that is that within it there is Republika Srpska (RS),” Slobodan Vaskovic, a political analyst, told AFP.
“As long as RS’s existence is not in question, Bosnia can be preserved as the country.” The Serbs’ Republika Srpska is an entity that along with the Muslim-Croat Federation makes up Bosnia after the 1992-1995 war. The two entities are highly autonomous, with each having their own government and parliament.
Many Bosnian Muslim and Croat leaders had called for their abolition, stressing that a centralized country is more efficient, especially for integration into the EU and NATO.
However, Bosnian Serbs strongly oppose the idea and have even started to call for an independence referendum as Bosnia heads to general elections on Sunday.
The independence referendum, an idea that startles the international community, has been promoted mostly by Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik.
Dodik, previously seen as moderate and more focused on economic issues, now calls for an independence referendum, encouraged by Montenegro’s vote to split from Serbia in May.
The referendum “has been motivated by some Muslim leaders’ constant insisting on abolishing of Republika Srpska,” Dodik, who is tipped to win in RS, told AFP.
However, the international community’s top envoy to Bosnia, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, who enjoys far-reaching powers, threatened to sack Dodik or anyone else who makes a concrete move on a referendum.
Calls for an independence referendum will be always used “as a response to calls from the Muslim-Croat Federation for RS’s abolition,” said Igor Gajic, a political analyst.
Some analysts warn that Bosnian Serbs are also being used by neighboring Serbia’s leaders who oppose independence of their UN-administrated province of Kosovo.
“I think that the story on an (independence) referendum will not end until a permanent solution for Kosovo status is found,” analyst Tanja Topic said.