Before the start of the Vilnius Summit, Lithuania, the question of the possible deployment of NATO forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was raised due to the worsening of the political crisis of the last few months. Although Ukraine and Sweden, which received the green light from Turkey to join the Alliance, are on the agenda, it is expected that BiH will be discussed at least on the sidelines of the summit. Even analysts cannot predict with certainty what this will mean for BiH in a practical sense, although they claim that there are certainly elements for action.
Brcko as an option
The Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH (PABiH) Denis Zvizdic called on NATO members to deploy NATO soldiers on its territory based on Annex 1A of the Dayton Peace Agreement and Article 7 of the Statute of Brcko District of BiH. Zvizdic made the call after the laws in Republika Srpska (RS), which refer to the non-application of decisions of the High Representative and the Constitutional Court, were published in the Official Gazette of the RS.
“With such a decision, the secession project of the RS, which was initiated by the last decisions of the National Assembly of RS (NARS), would be stopped as a preventive measure, and then permanently disabled,” stated Zvizdic.
According to the Dayton Agreement, NATO is obliged to protect peace and security in BiH, reminds military analyst Djuro Kozar, stating that if troops are deployed, no party in BiH has the authority to react in any way. Kozar states that at the moment there are several scenarios that can be expected from the NATO summit.
“One of the ways is to send troops to Brcko district, where about a hundred soldiers would be stationed for preventive reasons so that there is no takeover of Brcko from the establishment in the RS,” says Kozar, stating that NATO can deploy its units in any part of the territory of BiH.
However, some analysts question what is now with the Dayton Peace Agreement, given that the role of the High Representative, as the supreme interpreter, has been derogated from the latest laws adopted in the RS.
Vucic warns about the period after the summit
Speaking about the situation in Kosovo a few days ago, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also touched on BiH, saying that the key dates for BiH could be precisely those after the summit in Lithuania.
“The situation in RS and BiH will be much more serious and difficult after July 12th, after July 13th,” Vucic said, not wanting to reveal more details, nor whether he was familiar with the unfolding of events surrounding the NATO summit in Lithuania, DW reports.
E.Dz.
