The United Nations Security Council will hold a debate on Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 12. The report prepared by Christian Schmidt, the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is expected to be discussed. The details are not yet known to the public.
However, this year, in parallel with this official one, a report by the RS Government was sent to international circles as a document that is not part of the formal UN procedure. In the officially published version, representatives of the RS authorities problematize the mandate of the High Representative and the imposition of decisions.
In addition, they claim that the mechanisms of national power-sharing provided for in the Constitution were undermined by Bosniak representatives.
Media outlets that have had access to the report itself claim that details that should not remain unanswered by state institutions have been omitted, such as claims about the existence of a ‘hotbed of radical Islam’ in the state and the state’s ties to global terrorism.
In its document, the Government of Republika Srpska continues with its usual rhetoric, claiming that the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and the High Representative Christian Schmidt are responsible for the situation in BiH.
The report presents the Government of Republika Srpska as a “constructive factor that calms tensions”, even though representatives of this entity are simultaneously participating in the blockades of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and the Council of Ministers.
Despite, according to this view, Schmidt’s reckless and illegal administration of decrees, Republika Srpska has taken important steps to reduce the political tensions caused by his decisions. Nevertheless, representatives of the Bosniak political establishment, who have never accepted the existence of Republika Srpska as an autonomous entity, continue to work to undermine its governance, violating the rights guaranteed by the Dayton Agreement – the report states.
Despite frequent calls for secession, especially by former Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, the government of this entity simultaneously emphasizes its “commitment to the Dayton Peace Agreement”, blaming the situation in BiH on the OHR and “Bosniak politicians”.
“Bosniak domination in BiH”
A particularly controversial part of the report refers to the claims of the alleged “Bosniak domination in BiH”, with warnings about, as stated without evidence, “Bosniak connections with radical Islamists”.
– The prospect of complete Bosniak domination in Bosnia and Herzegovina is causing great fear and concern among Serbs and Croats and, in fact, should be a concern for much of Europe, as there are significant pockets of radical Islam within the Bosniak community. A worrying sign of the influence of radical Islamic elements in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the recent rise in anti-Semitism, the report states.
As evidence of “growing anti-Semitism,” they cite the cancellation of the Conference of European Rabbis and the U21 European Championship qualifier between Bosnia and Israel, where Bosnian players refused to shake hands with their opponents.
The report offers no evidence for the claims of links to “radical Islam” and the alleged connections of Bosniak parties to terrorist organizations. It also states that member of the Bosnian Presidency Željka Cvijanović proposed declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, which the other members rejected.
– Given these attitudes among the Bosniak political leadership, it should not be surprising that many of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States in recent decades have had connections to radical communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina – one part of the document states.
