The first of four of requests of Serbia is to move the state border on the part of the Belgrade-Bar railway that is passing through BiH, as stated from the State Commission on the Border of BiH.
The second request is for the borderline in Rudo to be moved on the river Lim, so that four inhabited places in BiH with a total of 1,600 residents will become part of Serbia. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH said that everything will be solved by the exchange of territory by the end of the year, but neither he or the Council of Ministers have any explanation on the topic of what BiH will get in return.
A lot more dispute is expected around the HPP “Zvornik” and HPP “Bajina Basta”, and in the Commission stated that BiH will not easily give up on this territory, as reported by ATV.
“BiH remained in the position that there is no exchange of territories without a previously signed border agreement, and that the issues of using the hydroelectric power plants Bajina Basta and Zvornik should be resolved through the signing of special agreements with BiH,” as said in the Commission.
Hydro power plants are controversial because the state border is crossing dams and reservoir lakes, and the official Belgrade suggested moving the border line to the left bank of the Drina River so that the facilities remain in Serbia. The Council of Ministers did not reveal whether BiH has a united stand on this issue or not because there were some proposals earlier to demand part of electricity from Serbia by international arbitration.
“We will not do anything that would be harmful to the RS nor would Serbia ask that from us. Serbia has something to do and that is getting back to the system of fulfilling its obligation to pay a compensation for the flooded land. That compensation was paid until the war, and those were defined relations,” said Petar Djokic, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining of the RS.
“You cannot have a border that will be physically placed on the facilities that Serbia invested in, so we are not talking about a joint investments. Now you have a border that will pass through the hydropower plant,” said Ivica Dacic.
Everything should be resolved by December 7, when the visit of members of the Presidency of BiH to Belgrade is scheduled, as announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Crnadak, who remained silent on giving more details on what part of the territory would BiH get for the given part of the territory of the present municipality of Rudo.
(Source: fokus.ba)
