The announcement from the entity of Republika Srpska about the formation of an auxiliary police force has caused a storm of reactions. From concerns from Bosniak representatives in this entity, to appeals to international institutions to prevent something like this.
Finally, as one of the responses, the Ministry of Interior of the Federation is not staying idle, and is also announcing the formation of a reserve police force. The OHR also reacted, and they called on Republika Srpska not to make suspicious moves again and to refrain from the plan, given the historical context of reserve forces in BiH.
For Ramiz Salkić, a Bosniak with an address in Republika Srpska, there is no dilemma: the reserve police is just another step towards the militarization of the Ministry of Interior, and the ultimate goal is to have as many forces as possible that will stand on what, as Salkić says, is an imaginary line that they consider to be the border of the future.
Ramiz Salkić, SDA MP in the RS National Assembly:
“This is a cause for concern for everyone, if this happens, not only we Bosniaks in RS will suffer the consequences, but all citizens of BiH and I believe that this would turn into a wider problem, so it is very important to react in a timely manner, in essence we should not relativize the danger that is at our doorstep”.
And the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska Siniša Karan explains that the reason for the additional police forces is the numerous challenges that have arisen in recent years, floods and other natural disasters, pandemics, fires. There is no negative connotation, nor does it mean an additional army that would be used to deal with anyone, says Karan.
Siniša Karan, Minister of Internal Affairs of the RS:
“This is exclusively an auxiliary police force and exclusively under the jurisdiction of the police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, what we are already doing, and only due to the lack of members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I will give just one example, right now, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RS is missing 1,019 police officers.”
The announcement from the entity of Republika Srpska about the formation of an auxiliary police force has caused a storm of reactions. From the concern of Bosniak representatives in this entity, to addressing international institutions to prevent something like this.
Finally, as one of the responses, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Federation is not staying silent, and is also announcing the formation of a reserve police force. The OHR also reacted, and they called on Republika Srpska not to make suspicious moves again and to refrain from the plan, given the historical context of reserve forces in BiH.
Answer from the Federation is coming very quickly. If Karan hires a thousand auxiliary police officers, we can hire 10 thousand, says the federal minister in charge, Ramo Isak. If he forms them for natural disasters, then why not strengthen civil protection.
Ramo Isak, Minister of the Interior of the FBiH:
“A few hours ago, I signed a proposal to amend the Law that defines the formation of a reserve force. I spoke with Mr. Mioković, President of the Security Commission, tomorrow there will be an extraordinary Commission, my representative will be there to present the amendments to the Law, we are also going to form it.”
Isak further believes that nothing will come of the reserve police force of the Republika Srpska, but that, he claims, it is another show for the public by Milorad Dodik, who every time he is not in the public’s focus, reaches for some inflammatory topic. However, just in case, he says, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has informed international partners about everything.
Elmedin Konaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
“That is what we expect from Dodik, he is afraid of a second-instance verdict that could confirm his imprisonment and the cessation of his involvement in politics, he is certainly going to further radicalize. I said that at the PIC session, because of EUFOR’s indecisiveness to assist us in arresting Dodik, they are giving him space for further radicalization and escalation.”
While he wants to increase the number of police officers, Milorad Dodik claims for the umpteenth time that his murder is being prepared. Recently, as he said, it was planned by British special forces, today, he says, businessmen from Konjic are behind such a plan.
Milorad Dodik, President of the RS:
“It is known that the man who gathered a number of people in Konjic, secured support worth a million euros and hired shooters from Novi Pazar and some from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosniaks, Muslims, interesting criminal figures, who had the obligation to carry out an assassination attempt on me at some place, at some particular time, in the territory of Serbia”.
Ramo Isak, Minister of the Interior of the FBiH:
“Nobody will kill him, believe me, he is safer in the Federation than in the Republika Srpska, because one day the people of the RS will really, as they say, take up sticks and beat him with them. He is safe here, the only thing he will be deprived of his liberty is that he cannot move around here because he has a warrant”.
The opposition in Republika Srpska also reacted violently to the announcement of the reserve police force, as they believe it is another tool of the entity president to crack down on dissenters, N1 writes.
