Bosnian Serb Leader Threatens to Declare Independence

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik stated today, Friday, that he is seriously considering declaring the independence of the autonomous Republika Srpska from the rest of Bosnia unless the dispute over property law is resolved. Dodik's hardline Serbian nationalism and his pro-Russian stance have raised concerns that Bosnia may be divided again on ethnic lines more than a quarter of a century after the end of its devastating war.

Dodik mentioned that he is seriously contemplating "making a decision to declare independence and separation of Republika Srpska unless the property issue is resolved." According to the constitution, the national parliament must adopt a property law that applies throughout Bosnia. However, Republika Srpska’s president, Dodik, claims this deprives the Serb region in Bosnia of its rights over its lands, rivers, and forests.

The 1995 Dayton peace agreements, brokered by the United States, ended nearly four years of war in Bosnia, which resulted in the deaths of about 100,000 people, by dividing the country into two autonomous entities: the Serb-controlled Republika Srpska and the Federation shared by Bosniaks and Croats, linked by a weak central government.

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